Reflection of EDM 310 :)

Final Project

In today's technological society, it is not uncommon to see young children absorbed in video games. Everything from the PlayStation 3 and the Wii to the Nitendo DS and the V-Reader has been introducing the youth of day to the technology of tomorrow. But what is the overall consequences of this influx of technological capabilities being introduced to our children? What is the influence of the contents of the games being played by these children? Can these video games educate children beyond the spectrum of technology?
With the obvious willingness of young children to "play" over "studying" in their daily routine, it is no wonder why the two have been incorporated over the years. Educational toys and games have been a parental ideal for years. With the focus of children already being glued to the screens of televisions and portable game players, why not sneak something educational in front of them? V-tech, Leap Frog, and Nintendo are leading in the revolution that is educational handheld video games. Drawing children in with their entertaining concepts, these games are geared so that children are not only learning but also desire to do so.

 Case Study on Educational Handheld Video Games
     We carefully selected a group of children between the ages of 3-9 with various levels of exposer to video games, and educational video games, to participate in a three week study on the how effective educational handheld video games can be as an educational tool. The children's exposer to educational video games were put into three categories: play educational video games, play non-educational video games, and don't play video games. The children and their parents were interview about education, video games, and educational video games. Then, the children were either given a Nintendo DS or a Nintendo DSi. They also received educational video games which corresponded with their age and educational level.
     The children and their children were instructed to follow the following three week work schedule as if it were an assignment set home by the child's teacher as homework.
Week 1: Play a science, a reading, and a math game for at least 30 mins each everyday. You may spend as much time on an individual game as you want as long as each game played for at least 30 mins.
Week 2: Play a science, a reading, and a math game for at least 30 mins everyday. You may spend as much time on an individual game as you want as long as each game eventually played.
(At the end of this week, the children were taken to the store to get two additional games each of their choosing, whether it was educational or not.)
Week 3:  Play at least 30 mins everyday. You may spend as much time on any of the five games as you want. You are not required to play all of the games everyday.

(The parents of the children shown agreed to have their photos and/or videos and that of their children put online.)

-Results
The parents said that they saw an increase in their children's willingness to not only do this "homework" assignment but also their actual homework. Four parents saw a dramatic increase in their children's mathematical skills and problem solving skills. Five saw a raise in their children's vocabulary, reading skills, and reading comprehension. Four saw a growth in their children's understanding of scientific concepts (such as taxonomy, photosynthesis, astronomy, meteorology, and anthropology). The children grew more comfortable with the handheld video games and enjoyed learning with the educational games. Even when they were not required to and had other options, the children continued to play the educational video games. When taken to get two more games, two children chose to get an educational game. One child chose to get two additional educational games (a history game and a trivia game). The parents agreed that the idea was an innovative way for children and students alike to learn. The parents said that they would not have a problem if their children were to actually be instructed to play the educational video games for their homework. The children all agreed that the games made learning fun and that they would not mind being to to play the educational games as homework for school. One parent reported that he allowed his child to play one of the math games to help her prepare for a math test. He was proud to report that his daughter got a 100% on the test.

My Personal Learning Network Final Report

I love my Symbaloo PLN( personal learning network) because it allows me to be completely organized. I keep all of my important and most used links on my page. If I need to add something or want to look up something, all I have to do is type it in the middle box and it will Google it for me. My Symbaloo allows me to customize to my needs and my likes and interests. This is one of the many tools I will keep from this EDM 310 class. I think it is amazing because even if there is not a tile already made for something you can choose the URL you wish to put on it, the background color, the color text, what the text is, AND you can even upload your own image to use on the tile. When you are done creating your tile you can put it on your Symbaloo. You simply drag the tile from the top left and put it on a square. You can delete tiles you don't need or use, or if you just needed it one time. You can rearrange tiles and as you can see on mine, my school is all close to one another along with my banking and some of the better teacher blogs I have found this semester. I have recreational sites on here as well: Facebook, Twitter, Myspace. I have it all here. I don't have to worry with typing a ton of URLs in the top search or anywhere else. All I have to do is open Symbaloo and click once for whatever I need. IT'S AWESOME! 

C4T # 4

My teacher #4 was John Burke. His blog page is called Quantum Progress. I commented on his post "The Disadvantages of an Elite Education". In it he quotes Deresiewicz:

I responded by saying:
"I completely agree with the point made here in this quote. In more elite schools you typically see students forced to do certain things certain ways. There’s not much room for creativity in these circumstances. They graduate from these elite schools having had others force ideas and such on them. Strict curriculum and strict guidelines don’t leave much room for personal thoughts. ‘…great success but no vision.’ This part is so true of so many elite personalities."
I never saw a response.

Project 15: Book Trailer

Blog Assignment 13

ALEX (Alabama Learning Exchange) seems like a great site. They provide you with lesson plans for all grades and all subjects. For new teachers needing ideas, this would be greatly helpful. I'm glad I found out about this site. In my high school French 3 class, I had to go to a feeder school and teach second graders French. Sometimes finding interesting activities was a rather difficult task for me though. I always enjoyed making the lesson plans but sometimes I would find the children wouldn't quite catch on to the games and activities. This site seems to have activities for any age group, which I simply think is fantastic!
ACCESS (Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide) also seems to be a great site. From what I read they seem to want to reach out to all learning environments. One of their pages I visited showed the curriculum of each class. For someone homeschooling this site could be utilized for a basis of what to do. I also found here that they are responsible for the curriculum and placement tests I took for AP courses in high school. ACCESS seems to try to reach everyone in a learning environment which is an amazing feat.

Project #6

I did my Project #6 Questionnaire on peoples' favorite things. I asked about sports, colors, hobbies, etc. You can follow the link embedded in the first picture to see the results.


I was surprised to find that when given the option between rap, hip hop, country, and other music students chose other majority of the time. Most people also chose other when given the choice of a favorite color being red, black, or blue. Eighty one percent of people decided that their favorite pet was a dog and most said their favorite number was between one and twenty five. Majority of people said Dr. Seuss was their favorite childhood author and chose other when given the options of Facebook, Blogger, and Myspace for favorite site to visit online. Most people voted Alabama as their favorite SEC football team and heart as their favorite shape. When given the options of other, football, soccer, and baseball, people said their favorite sport was one other than the three named. I also found that most peoples' favorite hobby was something other than reading, browsing the internet, watching television, and sports. For the most part I was slightly surprised at the responses. I had sixteen people respond to my questionnaire. 

Additional Assignment #4

My Sentence

Final Project Report

Ann(Right) and Me(Left)

I. Topic: Educational Video Games: concentration on handhelds

II. Partner: Ann-Marie New

III. Objectives of our project:

-Introduce video games as an educational tool

-Characterize educational video games by brand, price, and academic merit

-Illustrate advantages of educational handheld video games

-Demonstrate the ability and willingness of students to utilize these tools

IV. Project Duties:

-Research educational handheld video games: brand, price, academic merit (Kirby and New)

-Record a student who has and regularly utilizes educational handheld video games (New)

-Record a student who regularly plays non-academic based handheld video games (New)

-Spreadsheet of educational handhelds, prices, age group, curriculum, and features (Kirby)

Blog Assignment 12

I am assigned, this week, to give a blog assignment we should have been assigned and to do it myself.

Watch the video The Sound of Learning: Albano Berberi and, in your blog, post what you thought of the video and how technology has assisted Albano. Also consider any other methods of technology that could be useful for physically handicapped students, including deaf, mute, amputees, and any other handicap and feel free to look for similar posts and share.


I, personally, enjoyed the video. New technologies such as computer audio programs have assisted Albano with being able to participate in classroom assignments. Braille books and keyboards have also been helpful in Mr. Berberi's learning environment. Other handicaps, such as being hearing impaired, also have technical innovations to assist with learning. Ann-Marie New also speaks of the physically handicapped in her Blog Post # 12. She addresses hearing impaired students and the technology useful in the classroom for them.

Summary Post C4T Teacher #3

My third assignment for C4T was Arvind S. Grover. His post was about a colleague of his sent him a quote by Hiam Ginott. Because it had such a great, valid point here is the quote:

"I've come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. My personal approach creates the climate. My daily mood makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate, humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated, a child humanized or dehumanized."
-Hiam Ginott

I thanked Mr. Grover for sharing and told him I thought the concept of the quote was nice and it really made me think. I told him, also, that I hoped I could think on this everyday before walking into a classroom. He responded back that he thinks we as teachers should always be cognizant of how contagious our attitude toward others' is. I replied I completely agreed and thanked him again.

Project # 14- EDM 310

Blog Assignment 11

FIRST GRADERS IN MS. CASSIDY'S CLASS


I was honestly very surprised by this video. I never thought I'd see the day first graders were blogging and had wikis. I think this is a good thing of course as long as the teacher monitors which sites the students are visiting, They seem to be learning manners as they know to be nice to others and they also seem to be learning how to be safe with the internet and technologically savvy. Through their blogging they are learning better writing skills and they seem to be accepting the fact that they will always be learning new things and growing in their technological experience. I would love to use blogging in my classroom as well. It would allow for students to not only form an opinion and learn, but to also see what others are thinking. They would learn how to be safe on the internet. I would also like to have a classroom webpage like Ms. Cassidy did. As previously mentioned, it would allow the students' parents to be more involved.

Blog Assignment 10

I completely agree with Morgan Bayda's view after reviewing the following video. I have attended class after class of lectures where the teacher doesn't even attempt to learn his/her students' names. Some instructors seem to think that education doesn't have to change even when the world is changing drastically for students to be fully prepared to step out into the world. Without knowing how to use today's technologies where are our students going to be? What are the going to be able to accomplish? I don't think there is much they will be equipped to do without a thorough understanding of the uses of technology in the work force. Society itself is changing and if methods of schooling doesn't, our future generations will be jobless.

My experiences are the same as Ms. Bayda's and Mr. Brown's experiences. Sometimes I think instructors have forgotten what education is really about. It's about broadening your horizons and looking past facts to see something that nobody has ever seen before. There used to be a time, a long time ago that is, when students didn't attend a school, but they were considered scholars. They would speak with intellectuals such as Aristotle and others and never receive credit for this course or that. They didn't go to these discussions because they had to, they went because they WANTED to. They wanted to broaden their views and see how far their minds could stretch, what they could learn. I wish sometimes that classrooms today were like this. Not structured to the point of stifling any and all creativity but, rather, to where students are free to speak amongst themselves and to the teacher as a peer. We need to incorporate new technologies and findings into our classroom. We need to keep up with the times. And we need to broaden our horizons.

I took a look at Tom Johnson's post and was astounded actually that somebody would be upset about children having pencils at home because test scores might be a little lower. I don't really know what to say aside from 'Wow'. I'm still unsure, actually, if I maybe misunderstood the post and maybe there was something more there because I was just lost at what the lady's point was behind screaming at a teacher because his students had pencils. Sorry, but if I missed something please let me know.

I also watched the video Two Questions That Can Change Your Life. My sentence is "I will continue daily to strive to become the best teacher I can, always keeping our future generations in my priorities, and hoping to give back to them what my teachers gave to me and helped me keep: support, comfort, strength, ambition, values, and a desire to do better because I could."

Skype Interview Recorded Project #12

Project 13: Smartboard Instruction

Blog Assignment 9

In this post, Mr. McClung writes about a lot of things that he has learned from teaching this year. I believe that everything he wrote can be useful for teachers of any age and with any type of degree. I agree with everything that he said and I find it all very important. The topics he discussed are to read the crowd, be flexible, communicate, be reasonable, don't be afraid of technology, listen to your students, and never stop learning. All of these are important in the occupational area of teachers. I posted a comment to Mr. McClung saying that his focus on creating a relationship with our students by listening to them is one of the most important things that a teacher can do. These children need to know that their teacher is more concerned about their educational growth than what the other teachers think of them.

Timetoast Instruction Timeline- Priject #9B

Short Movie Project # 11

Blog Assignment 8

This Is How We Dream, Parts One and Two is a speech given by Dr. Richard Miller. He speaks of restrictions we place on ourselves with technology, the possibilities therewith, and the ways in which we can utilize technology to better our creative output and writing. Dr. Miller talks about how he is currently learning about new technologies.
He states in the beginning of part one that books are rarely used now. He has written a book and even realizes that it can be bought for less than a dollar on amazon. The goal of learning how all these technologies work can give voice to students' dreams. The technology allows us to articulate dreams and share them. These idea driven web documents can show the world what the university is for. It's there for ideas.
Once, a long time ago, there were scholars. These students paid nothing to learn and teachers got paid nothing to teach. Rather, in days such as I speak people wanted to pass on new ideas and innovations as a gift, a pleasure, to themselves and each other. I wish today monetary feedback wasn't so important. I wish we could learn these technologies because we were driven by an internal desire to know it ourselves and not because we simply had to for an assignment. The university is there for people who want to learn, it shouldn't be used by people simply because they think the have to learn.

In The Chipper Series I saw something I've realized is quite common among college dropouts. They typically shuffle from job to job after dropping out and finally realize they should have never quit college to begin with. The main character, Chipper, is a procrastinator and doesn't seem to want to show up for class or do her work on time. After she drops out, these characteristics stick with her on the job. She gets fired from several of her jobs and finally decides she'd like to put forth the effort to get her master's degree.
The EDM 310 for Dummies video was interesting. I think the way the characters acted is probably very similar to the way I felt the first couple of weeks of class before I fully understood where I went for my assignments and where to post them and other basic needs of the class. I think the idea of a book for the class might be a good idea for those people who feel overwhelmed and I think the video was cute.
If I were to do a video about EDM 310 it would, obviously, be about where to look for your assignments and where you post about them. My video would focus more on how you get started. That was the hardest part for me. Another thing I would include in the video is managing time. I must admit, I'm a big procrastinator, but every Sunday I devote simply to church and homework. I know at the end of every weekend what hasn't been completed prior has to have time set aside for it. I would definitely tell incoming EDM students to set aside a day like this where they get their homework done no matter what.

While reading Why Smartboards Are a Dumb Initiative I don't think I could agree more. In high school my teachers were all getting these 'Smartboards' as they call them. But what, really, was the purpose of them? It caught half the class' attention simply because it was technology and they wanted to write on the screen without using ink. Set that aside though, and how is it different from a whiteboard? (This is excluding, of course, the price tag.) I, personally, never got hyped up over the idea of walking up to the board and getting drawn into the curriculum because of it. Sure, if it helps the students learn, then I say 'Go for it', but in my experience this wasn't really the case. Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards seems to carry the exact same views on the matter as did Why Smartboards Are a Dumb Initiative. I found a different view of smartboards online at: http://www.ehow.com/about_6635274_can-board-beneficial-students_-learning_.html Here it is basically explaining that smartboards are useful in the classrooms because children are technology savvy and can figure them out and because it allows students to participate more in the lesson. I must say I still agree more with the two arguments given by Dr. Strange. What do teachers today do with a smartboard that cannot be done with a projector or whiteboard. Nothing worth a few thousand more dollars, I can assure you.

PLN Progress Report #1

I started playing around with my Symbaloo today. I actually got rather excited about my Symbaloo. I put new programs on it and took some off that I didn't need. I made my twitter button to where it will automatically sign me in and also synced my Myspace and email accounts to it so I can receive messages all together. All in all, I'm excited about starting my PLN.

Timetoast Outline

One of my assignments for EDM 310 is a Timetoast timeline. It had to be about us or our families. Here is mine.

C4T # 2

My teacher for C4T#2 was Mr. John Spencer. His post was about people looking back upon our pictures and questioning what type of person we might be. He states that one of his students asked him if people would think we were all very serious and never smiled from serious photos taken of people. I responded that this is a good point. All our future generations will have are our stories and photographs, our videos. But will they only see the serious side of us? I think so. That is if the only side we portray in these technological advancements is our serious side. My teacher did not post back to me in response.

Blog Assignment 7

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture is an extraordinary video. I enjoyed it a lot. It is not the first time I've seen the video but I didn't quite remember everything from the first time I watched it. Mr. Pausch gave an exceptional speech for somebody who had ten tumors in his liver and knew he was dying. I appreciated the way he was honest and spoke to the audience as though he already knew them. Mr. Pausch hit many of what he calls 'brick walls' throughout his life. He states that these walls are not there to stop people, but rather to see who wants something bad enough to work for it.

He overcomes many obstacles. Some of these are being in zero gravity, playing in the NFL, authoring an article in the World Book encyclopedia, being Captain Kirk, winning stuffed animals at the fair, and being a Disney imagineer. He never did get to play in the National Football League but Mr. Pausch states that he probably learned more from not reaching this goal than he did from all the accomplishments he did achieve.

Mr. Pausch teaching methods could be termed 'hands-on'. He allows his students to do things using the technology they have access to. He says they will not read a single book in his class. People learn through experience and his methods prove this. Students in his class were allowed to make their own programs and test them. Everything they did in his classes were hands on and allowed the students to explore their realms of creativity. Too few teachers use this method of teaching. I wish there were more.

Randy Pausch is an exceptional speaker in this video. He maintains a professional demeanor while in a time in his life that most people would be more morose over. I enjoyed the way he made you think he's talking to the audience until the very end when he says the second 'head fake' is that the speech is actually for his children. He seems to be an exceptional person, teacher, father, husband, and coworker. I wish there were more people like him today.

Blog Assignment 6

Ms. Wendy Drexler's post The Networked Student talks about students today. These students are encouraged to take learning into their own hands by utilizing technology. Their teacher is a student of connectivism. Connectivism means that the learning is done through social connections and ties. The twenty-first century student first builds ties. Through the internet, he finds facts, opinions, blogs, some of the best professors in the world, and much more to help him attain the connections and information he needs.
His mp3 player can also be useful. Through iTunes, the student can get subscriptions to any number of audio and video files that can assist him with his learning. The student is meanwhile making ties online with people who have the same interests as him. This could help him possibly meet someone important and/or very valuable to his learning process. Then we ask why he still needs a teacher.
He still needs a teacher to show him HOW to do these things. He needs someone to tell him where to find useful blogs, to show him how to form these ties, to let him know how to act politely online, and much more. This teacher hands him the tools that he will need when he is out of his/her classroom. His job is simply to learn how to use them here. Once he leaves the classroom it is his responsibility to broaden his horizons and expand these connections, to continue wanting to learn. And ideally the student will.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment talks about a seventh grade student's PLE (Personal Learning Environment), which is basically the same thing as what we call a Personal Learning Network in Dr. Strange's EDM 310 course. This also allows the student to utilize the internet as a learning tool. The students blogs, watches videos, completes assignments, and much more though the use of the internet to increase her learning experience. We as students at South Alabama are involved in the very same type learning process.

The Machine is Changing Us is also a video. This is done by Dr. Michael Wesch, of whom we've already seen videos. I found this to be mainly true of people today. I thought the inserts from YouTube enhanced it a bit to show how we broadcast ourselves to millions of people who we don't even know. I found the number of uploads to YouTube is rather enormous. College students today utilize YouTube on a regular basis. I actually recently asked a friend for help with something and when they didn't know, the first thing they typed into their browser was 'youtube'. Since we didn't know how to do what we needed to, we simply typed in 'how to...' and automatically videos popped up. College students, including myself, utilize these resources on a daily basis. As a teacher, I'm sure YouTube will probably come in handy when doing podcasts or such. Technology is at our hands. We just have to learn to use it.

Interview with Richard Hayes About Technology in the Classroom

Blog Assignment 4

Scott McLeod is an edublogger. This means he blogs and uses other forms of technology to help students learn concepts better. Technology has become a major part of the work force and is steadily becoming more useful in educational settings. Dr. McLeod utilizes this to the best of his ability. I completely agree with his viewpoint in his blog. Students today need technology in their educational environments to be successful after they leave the classroom.

Travis Allen has a very valid presentation in The iSchool Initiative, a video about how the iTouch can be utilized as is in classroom environments. Applications for the iTouch include things such as email, maps, and calculators. Aside from these, there are many more useful applications on the iTouch that could revolutionize learning as we know it. With a few modifications, we would come to have the iSchool.
The idea for the iSchool is very much like that of the iTouch. There are only a few small differences. Students would be able to access only sights approved by their school system. This erases the aspect of doing irresponsible things with such a useful tool. Parents, teachers, and students would all have immediate access to schedules, attendance, assignments, grades, and more, I think the utilization of the iSchool would not only revolutionize the learning process, but it would also be cheaper than buying school supplies, it would make information readily available to all involved, and it would help students capture the essence of technology.

The Lost Generation is a very moving video. It starts out by streaming words across the page. As I saw what was originally said, I was sad. The girl speaking in the background began to tell of a future era, one where work would always come before family and money is the only thing that makes people happy. I, personally, have learned to appreciate those closest to me and thought how sad such a world would be. The young lady told of how we would begin to care less and less about our environment. She says she is part of a "lost generation".
At the end of the streaming words, she says that all of these things will be true unless we decide to change it. she then reads each line backwards and, surprisingly, the words seem to fit in a new way. She speaks of how she will not be part of a quick fix era and how she will love her family. She will not be celebrating the tenth anniversary of her divorce in thirty years. Everything will be different because she will change all of this. I was moved by the way she played back her words and said the opposite. It was creative indeed. I congratulate the person who made this video.

I thought Eric Whitacre's video and production Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir is an amazing feat. To have one hundred eighty people who have never met before compose this is nothing short of breathtaking. I applaud Mr. Whitacre for his accomplishment. I was honestly speechless when I saw the video. I thought it sounded beautiful.

Additional Assignment #1

With Google squared and programs like it, it is much easier to search and find information typically needed for classroom environments. Searches such as WolframAlpha provide ways to make systematic knowledge immediately computable and accessible to as many people as is possible. No, I did not know about Google Squared or Wolfram Alpha prior to this assignment. I reread my comments on the Did You Know video. My thoughts are still the same on the video after hearing your comments. From this exercise I learned that statistics can be tricky and to carefully analyze them before drawing conclusions. I also read the Food For Thought article. It was, indeed, short. I think it's rather interesting that an illiterate six year old could use such a piece of technology. Maybe the man is a genius.

C4T # 1

My first teacher for C4T is Mr. W. Chamberlain. He teaches at Noel Elementary School in Noel, Missouri. My assigned blog post was one in which Mr. Chamberlain discussed the use of student manifesto in his classroom. This is where a teacher, or anybody really, could look at someone else and ask them to write down a goal they have. The goal should, preferably, be one accessible but not so easily attained that it is not a task. Student manifesto is about getting the student to strive to be the best he/she can. It needs to be something the student needs to try for, but also something the student can, with effort, accomplish. I first commented on Mr. Chamberlain's blog post and said I thought the idea of student manifesto was an incredible idea. In my opinion, it would allow the student to really determine what their goal was, and not only this but also why he/she held this particular goal. I mentioned that many times I've seen other people set goals but not reach them just because they were not sure why they wanted to reach their goal in the first place.
Mr. Chamberlain reposted on my comment and said that while some students simply wrote down what was the simplest goal to achieve, other of his students actually took his assignment seriously and put deep consideration into this project. I then wrote back and congratulated him on those students who took it seriously and wished him well with all of the students.

Blog Assignment 3

A Vision of Students Today is a video concerning the learning environment in colleges. I completely agree with the concept of needing to integrate technology into our college learning environments. Everything I saw in the video is relevant in my college situation. Yes, I buy textbooks knowing I will probably never even open them. I do bring my computer to class. And, no, it's not usually schoolwork I'm doing. So I must agree with the concepts captured in the video.
Students today are technologically advanced. Most classrooms, however, are not. This poses a slight problem. Students typically get bored in their courses today and, therefore, choose to do other things such as talk on the phone, skip class, and get online while in class. I wouldn't take away anything in the video. Everything I saw is completely true. I cannot think of anything else I would add. I think the video encompassed all necessary information.

Kelly Hines’ post It’s Not About the Technology is also inspiring. I do think she makes rather valid points in her post here. Some teachers do have access to the technology and do not utilize it correctly. While I agree with what she had to say, however, I also believe that teachers cannot learn how to utilize these things when teaching without having them. It is true that learning technology can be done without having it on hand. But is it easier when it is at hand or when you look at pages in a book that tell you what to do when you finally get it? I would think more hands-on experience would be needed to really keep up with all the new innovations.
Ms. Hines also made a very valid point when saying teachers are always learners. As a teacher, one also becomes the student. A teacher is always learning new things from his or her students. I must completely agree with this. I think Ms. Hines is right for the most part. It is possible to teach technology without having it on hand. But I think it would take a very special teacher to be able to help the students really retain the information for long periods of time without the hands-on expertise. It would take a teacher who was also willing to be the student to teach with the technology. I think it totally depends on the teacher, the way they utilize what they are given, and the way they interact with their students.

I completely agree with Mr. Karl Fisch in his post on Fishbowl titled Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?. The way Mr. Fisch puts matters into perspective here is incredible indeed. I think the way he compared being technologically illiterate today to being completely illiterate in the 20th century was a good comparison. If we as teachers and aspiring teachers see it as admirable to be illiterate in any sense of the term or unknowledgeable in any matter that could possibly help our students do well in the future, should we be teachers at all? I think not.
To embrace the idea that it would be okay or even admirable to not know something and be proud of it is blasphemy in itself. To think it would ever be okay to be a teacher with these ideals is even more absurd. I applaud Mr. Fischer on his well written and inspiring words.

I think the information given in Gary Hayes' Social Media Count is rather interesting. It shows us how fast technology is being passed on and how very many people are adapting to technology every second. As teachers and aspiring teachers I think it is very important that we keep up-to-date with new innovations so that we can utilize these in our classrooms. As previously mentioned in this post, we as teachers are not here to simply teach, but to learn as well. We need to learn these new technologies with our children and students.

Wordle Project #2

Blog Assignment 2

Did You Know? 3.0 is an interesting video. It explains how technologically advanced our world is becoming and how this will change the world as a whole. This includes jobs, databases, phone calls, and many more activities we partake in daily. It is presumed in this video that technology will, one day, be more advanced than civilization. New technology is constantly being produced while old technology is always being changed, altered, and improved.
The best jobs this year did not even exist in 2004. These jobs were probably produced with oncoming technology. What this means is that technology is such a strong influence today that, without keeping up with it, it will be nearly impossible to get high paying jobs. Did You Know? 3.0 is packed with information on how technology is reforming the way people live today. Without this technology being taught in a classroom environment, people today may not be able to keep up with the high demands of employers and technology in the future. This means more jobs and fewer workers.

Mr. Winkle Wakes is a video about how the fictitious Rip Van Winkle wakes after a hundred years to find technology he's never seen before. He goes to offices and a hospital and finds computers, printers, fax machines, X ray machines, and more. This world that he knows so little of is overwhelming to him. When he comes across a school not using technology, he likes it. This is understandable.
But what about the children in that school not using technology? One day they will be thrown into the same places Mr Winkle found himself. They will one day find themselves in a work environment with technology they don't know how to use. This might pose a slight problem to the people employing them. But if these children grew up with technology, would it be so hard to know more about these strange machines? Would these computers and fax machines and printers be so hard to use when in the work place if people were shown how to use them in schools more often? I think not.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity is a video of what I believe to be truth. Mr. Robinson explains how the educational systems all across the globe don't encourage or even sometimes choose to stigmatize the arts and children's creativity. Things such as fidgeting are today being termed ADHD, ADD, or similar diagnoses when seventy years ago it simply meant the child may have had a different talent such as dancing or playing an instrument. When we are children we lack a fear of being wrong. As we grow into adulthood, however, we are looked down upon for being wrong. Therefore, when the time comes for new ideas or innovations, some sort of creativity, we run. Most people, therefore, lose their creativity as they age.
Mr. Robinson explains how we may not be here seventy years from now but we should know our children will. We may not be able to see the world then, but we should want to make it a better place for them. There seems to be an hierarchy within the educational system. What is deemed "most important" is typically math and science with languages coming next. Then come the humanities and then the arts. Within the arts there are even divisions of importance to people it seems. First come dance and art. Then there is music and room for anything else. What we have failed to see is that we are not making it easier for our children to live in today's society. We are simply making them work harder to prosper in it. By not allowing them to flourish in what they are naturally capable of, we are forcing most children today to become uniform with everyone else with the belief that without math and science they will go nowhere in life. I must fully agree with Mr Ken Robinson on the matter and say he is a very brilliant man and I wish there were more people in today's society with his perspective.

Vicki Davis: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts shows how one teacher, Vicki Davis, has chosen to connect her students to the world through technology. She, as many others, believes that someone cannot teach using simply paper and pen. Some children are visual learners, some are auditory learners, and others are hands-on learners. With utilizing what technologies are available to the students, Mrs. Davis is able to reach a larger number of students academically.
Mrs. Vicki Davis does not believe she has to know all the material to teach it. She believes that when a student finds out how to do something on his/her own it gives him/her a sense of empowerment. I must agree with this belief. Students in her class work together to learn their capabilities with technology, something that has become close to a requirement in today's workforce. I applaud Vicki Davis for her effort to improve and reform education as we know it.

Blog Assignment 1

My name is Katherine Alexandria Kirby. I am currently a sophomore at the University of South Alabama. I have a double major and a double minor. My majors include Secondary Education and English and my minors are Spanish and French. I am nineteen years old and have lived in Mobile and Baldwin County. I graduated from Robertsdale High School in May of 2009. I am aiming to be a high school English, Spanish, and/or French teacher. What has driven me to this goal is my experience with those in the teaching profession and the way they helped me through difficult times in my life along with my love for cultures and languages.
I was born in Mobile but put into foster care at the age of five. At the age of eleven I was moved to a home in Robertsdale, Alabama. For those of you who have no clue where this small town is, it is located in Baldwin county about thirty minutes North of Foley. I attended school in Robertsdale from sixth to twelfth grade. Throughout this time I always had difficulties within my home setting. The only things that kept me going were school and my teachers. School grew to be my haven. When I was there I wasn't at home. Any day I wasn't home was, of course, a great day. Many days I would go to school upset about the way things were going at the house and throughout the years I found teachers weren't in the teaching field for the money but, rather, because they actually cared about others. In March of my senior year I ran away. I finished high school in Robertsdale with my social worker signing off as my guardian. I finished high school with a 3.739 overall GPA and a presidential scholarship to the University of South Alabama. After running away, college was all I had left. I changed my major to Civil Engineering last year but changed back to my current majors due to my drive to give back what I was given by my teachers.