Gary's Social Media Counts

I found this little bit of information to be interesting and probably truthful. This assignment is a blog that counts the people using these social media apps, for example, twitter, facebook, Myspace; how many people are on the internet; the amount of revenue made off advertising on facebook, etc. It's amazing how much society is starting to rely on technology. And it is evident that we as future teachers need to learn this every evolving technology.

podcast

The first podcast that I listened to for this assignment was the Smartboard Lesson Podcast. I was not sure how the podcast process was going to work. This podcasting thing is new to me and I didn't know if there was going to be a video stream or if it was going to be a radio show. This particular cast is in the form of a radio show. This particular episode includes the friendly banter of hosts: Ben Hazzard and Joan Badger. The two have a fairly good chemistry between them, they ramble for the first 7 minutes of the cast and then go into the subject matter at hand. The two also take ideas via twitter and incoperate it into their radio show. The subject matter of today's cast was how to wrap up a school year and how to get your students interested in math through a medium such as movies. I found this podcast to be too scattered and not very organized.

The second podcast that I listened to for this assignment was Kidcast episode 62 with Dan Schmit. I found the structure of this cast to be much better than the previous cast. It's like a radio show, however, he doesn't go off task and goes right into the subject matter he proclaimed at the beginning of the cast. The subject matter discussed is the difference between video cast and podcasting. He believes that video podcasting is not necessarily the next step in being a podcaster, you don't have to have a video podcast in order to evolve into an exceptional podcaster. He also believes that video podcasting is more difficult for students than audio. Like he states in his cast "...audio cast challenges the students' to give descriptive language and learn how to articulate well." Audio is also easier to edit, you don't have to worry about lighting, and you don't have to worry about teachers being a gatekeeper. But he also states that there is a time and a place for a video podcasting, for example, if the students are learning about the importance of body language. To conclude, a video podcast is not an essential and could be very complex project for students.


The third podcast that I listened to for this assignment was ConnectLearning with David Warlick. This podcast starts out with snappy jazz intro and a vocal introduction for the episode at hand. In this particular episode he talked to many librarians from North Carolina and asked them how they feel about podcasting and how it helps them do their job. They agree that it can make their job better and get people more interested in reading, for example, having a book of the day--having a book talk. To conclude, they all believe that the kids are more comfortable with video and audio instead of writing. They also believe that the kids can learn from audio means and that would help them with their writing.

The fourth and final podcast that I listened to was Edtechtalk with a group of women( didn't give the names.) I particularly didn't care for this podcast at all. The quality was not very good---i had a hard time of hearing it clearly. Their show was about how to grow as a professional and they don't stay on topic a lot of the time. They start out with cash for clunkers with a refrigerator. They then talk about a kayak and how that's helping them grow as a professional. It wasn't very narrow, and not organized, I didn't like it.

The other two, basically had the same format with the same message of technology.
I found this assignment to be interesting because I'm not too familiar with the whole process, and I think this somewhat helped. I don't want to be boring, i don't want to be too funny as well...we shall see how this goes.

Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

I found this assignment to be rather confusing--I didn't know if we were supposed to comment on a post on the blog, or the blog itself. The blog was a bunch of post on whether it is okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher.

In my opinion, no it is not okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher. It is our jobs as teachers to give our students the best education so that they can advance economically and have a great life. So with that philosophy, if the technological world is changing; we must keep up with it, so our students have the best chance to make it in this world.

It's not all about technology

Our assignment for the 24th of January was to read a blog by Kelly Hines about technology in the classrooms, that it's not all that its not the only thing in the classroom that needs to change. I enjoyed reading the blog and also believe that she is right, our whole attitude towards our future students has to change and that should be top priority, not technology.

I agree with this view. Teaching should be top priority and technology should come second. however technology shouldn't be omitted completely, we need both in order to give someone an adequate education.

Karl Wesh's video " A vision of students today" was an eye opener. A day in the life of a student is extremely busy and technology could possibly be a solution to today's worries. However, with technology there are both positives and negatives, and some of the students that use the negatives hurt themselves instead of helping and fall further behind. An example of this: a student in the classroom staying on Facebook or myspace the entire class period and not taking notes.

The message I gathered from the video was this: That our students are suffering greatly. That everything is evolving and our poor teaching methods are causing our students to become lazy.

Harness Your Digital Smarts

I found the video "Harness your students' digital smarts" to be very engaging. The video highlights the effort of one teacher(Vicky Davis) and her methods of getting her kids involved with today's new technology. She wants to reach out to her students through technology, instead of the conservative pencil and paper. She believes that through hands on experience they will be ready to adapt to the future and hopefully be able to excel in this world.

I agree with her theory. It is obvious that our technology is advancing at an alarming rate, and we as future educators have to keep up with it. We have to reach out to them. And it is obvious that the pencil and paper method is about to be no more.

Schools Kill Creativity

I found the Sir Ken Roberts talk: the importance of creativity, to be very interesting. He talked about how schools have pretty much crushed our kids creativity. The kids who excel in certain areas like drama and art, are seen as not acceptable in this society, and that educators worry too much about mathematics and language instead of the arts when it should be equally taught; everyone is different.

I agree with his theory. I believe that everyone has a different perception, because of how they are hardwired. Mr. Roberts gives an example of a girl who was very fidgety and wouldn't calm down--today, they would think that she was ADHD. So she goes to the doctor and the doctor speaks with her. Come to find out, she learns through movement. I also believe that he wanted to say that everyone is different and we as future educators should pay attention to our students, and help flourish their talents instead of crush them--especially if they are different.

Mr. Winkle Wakes

The video "Mr. Winkle Wakes" is about Mr. Winkle, a man who wakes up after one-hundred years have passed and everything ( buildings, technology, hospitals, etc...) have changed around him. Buildings are higher and filled with technology that overwhelms him greatly. He falls ill and goes to the hospital where he finds "machines that breathed life into lungs...and things that he never thought could happen." That didn't make him feel any better, so he goes to a school where he finds comfort; where nothing has changed.

I believe the creator of the video wanted to convey the fact that schools are still not using technology to the fullest and our kids are bored and suffering. They are bored because teachers have lost connection with their kids--they're still using the same teaching techniques that are outdated and can not reach out to the kids today, therefore kids are not learning. And because they don't use the technology that is in front of them, the kids therefore suffer because they won't learn how to use it. And if they are not careful, they will turn into Mr. Winkle; a person who is afraid of change and can not adapt to this ever changing world.

Did You Know 3.0?

Did You Know 3.0 is a video by Karl Fisch was entertaining,truthful, and probably needs to be updated. He uses the song " Right here, Right now" by Fatboy Slim to grab the audience's attention. The video is filed with random facts about how technology has transformed the world in a short period of time.


The video's message to me states this: the world is changing. As one of the slides states our technology is becoming so advanced that we don't even have jobs for this technology. So as a future teacher it is up to me to learn and use this new technology so that my students and me can make it in this ever evolving world.

Welcome Blog

Hello! My name is Jessica Pierce. I attend the University of South Alabama where I'm majoring in Secondary Education minoring in History. Periodically, I will be blogging about certain topics about education and how I(when I enter the field of education) can better the education system via technology.