Sunday, February 13, 2011

Blog Post 4

Scott McLeod Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?
Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Educational Administration program at Iowa State University. He is also Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education or CASTLE. He created the country’s first graduate program designed to prepare technology-savvy school leaders.He regularly blogs about different technology issues going on in todays society.

WoW! What a unique way to catch someones attention. At first I thought this guy was crazy and definitely out of date. I could not understand why Dr. Strange would want any of us to waste our time reading such a negative post about technology. As I continued reading it, I realized that he was being very sarcastic. Yes, I agree. There is the possibility for children to run into bad internet behavior and that is why children should always be supervised when using modern technology. In a perfect world this behavior would be non-exsisting. However, since it's out there, our only option is not to shelter them, but to monitor them closely and try our hardest to make sure they never have to cross this path.


The iSchool Initiative
Oh.My.Gosh. I am stunned. I have an Iphone and did not know all the things it would do. He showed us applications that are already available that could be a tremendous help in school. Some I am looking for to download now! My favorite was Formulae, a math app that had every formula possible on it....Where was this App when I was in school?

This just goes to show us how great technology can be. His argument was the school of the future would be so much cheaper through the use of any type of Apple I touch platform. There would be no need for books, paper, copy machines, or pencils. Children would have limited internet access. Teachers, parents, and students could easily view their test, grades, assignments, and lunch menus. Therewould be no need for expensive graphing calculators either. This would save everyone a ton of money! I am super excited just thinking about what an I-School would be like. Let's Go Green!


Productive Iphone Apps for School




The Lost Generation by Jonathan Reed
This video was super cool. I am usually just watching comedy videos or how to's on you tube. I am so glad that through these assignments I have broadened my YouTube followings. I sure hope for the sake of my life and my future childrens life that we do do something about this era. I can not imagine a world where we celebrate divorce and money is more important than family. I loved how the creator of this video spoke along with the words. I also thought it was really neast how she revearsed the words through the second part of her video. I love the creativeness that was put in and although the video was very simple, it really was heart felt.


Virtual Choir by Eric Whitacre
WoW! I don't even think there are words to describe how incredible this video is. It isn't that it surprises me that something like this could be done, but to actually see it is amazing! This video is just another great example of how the internet can be used. How else could you get 12 countried and 185 people all together to sing this song. Amazing, absolutely amazing!


Teaching in the 21st Century
This video is so true. Information is readily available to todays children. I completely agree that teachers are no longer the soul responsible party for what children learn. The possibilities are endless with the inernet. It is our job as an educator to "filter" the knowledge that can be obtained through the use of a computer and to teach children how to properly find and use the information they are looking for. I am not saying that a teachers job is not as important anymore, I actually believe the opposite. A teacher who teaches the proper use and technique of the internet is laying the foundation for that childs life. In today's time, everyone has some dependability on a computer. Every person in today's society needs to have knowledge of how to properly work a computer and the internet. Someone has to be there to teach this, so why not? I hope that in my future classroom I will be looked back upon as laying a solid foundation in the lives of so many children.

1 comment:

  1. "It is our job as an educator to "filter"..." Wouldn't it be better to teach our students to be good at "filtering" information?

    Enthusiastic, fun to read. Well done!

    ReplyDelete