What I took from class week 5

One thing that I took from class today is that teachers should should decide what way they are going to teach.  They may lecture or facilitate but either way we have to decide as teachers of what way they are going to help the students learn.  I also learned as teachers that we should not generalize as teachers because it can be offensive to students.  I also learned today that it is ok to give your opinion on a discussion but you should do it towards the end of the discussion so your students don't get swayed in their ideas for the discussion.  You should also give reasons why and let them know that there are different ways to aproach this discussion.  In discusion we should also try to get student to student interaction instead of student to teacher to student discussion because students can learn from each other and add their ideas to the discussion. 

Chapter 3: reflection on rethinking education

The format of traditional education is something that has been very slow at changing because it is a very difficult and complex thing to change.  When you have been doing something the same type of way for so long it is hard to rethink and reform the way it is done.  I think that after reading this chapter reform is something that is needed in education because the world is not the same as it used to be.  The format for education has been the same for such a long time because there haven’t been that many great changes in the world that would cause the way we educate children to change.  One reason that would make this push for reform to halt would be the cost of having technology prevalent in classrooms.  To get accomplished what technological enthusiasts want would cost a lot and would almost call for the ratio of computers to students to be one to one.  With the tight budgets that school districts are under right now it seems like it would be very difficult to cut more teachers just for more technology in the classroom.  It would be very hard to suggest that to a school board.  The idea that technology would be undermining educators and that they wouldn’t seem as important is pretty far fetched in my mind.  Computers and technology are tools and people are needed to use those tools.  You still need educators to show students how to use these tools effectively and by doing this you can educate children by using these tools.  Educators should still be able to manage their students if they are using computers no different then if the students were in a lab using a device to get measurements.  Educators have to find ways to manage their classrooms and I don’t believe that just because students are on computers it means that it would be that much more difficult.  I strongly believe that it is true that computers cannot teach everything.  Why would I be going in to education if I thought students could just learn everything by just booting up a computer?   Like I said a computer is a tool that can be used to educate students in a different way.  A classroom and teacher is still needed to teach students what they need to know. In my mind technology is there to help.

            As a future teacher I will have to make sure that I am following the curriculum that has been laid out before me but I can do this in many ways.  I do believe that the laid out curriculum in education is getting larger and larger.  It has to be getting larger because we are learning new things everyday and they are important.  Plus we want them to learn things from the past because we don’t just want to throw things out that we think are still important.  That is why I think technology can be used to cover a wide range of things and help them learn.  It can be a lot faster with technology to learn things and if you forget you can look them up.  When students get out into the real world it isn’t like they are just shoved into a job and they have to remember everything that they learned in school and if they forget it well then their job will suffer.  They are able to look things up and use technology to their advantage.  They will also have co-workers to help them out if they forget something.  That is why I think group work can be effective because they can learn from each other.  Also using computers can be helpful because they can look up information they may have forgotten that may help them on an assignment.  I don’t think that is cheating I think that is being resourceful because they are still learning in that is the main goal of education.  I don’t think they should rely on other things or people all of the time that is why there still needs to be assessment but I feel that students can learn better with the help of others and technology. 

What I took from Class 09/23

A new thinking that I learned from class today is that google advanced is a great way to search and narrow down your searches.  It can help you find what you are looking for in a fast and easy way that will filter out a lot of uneaded searches.  I also learned a few critiques about presentaions.  It is very importnat that you end with a conclusion because it doesn't leave people haning and you want to tell the students what you just told them.  I also learned that the SMARTexhange is a great website with a lot of usefull resources that I can use later on when I am teaching. 

Chapter 2 reflection on Rethinking Education

I felt that this article was very intense because it gave the one sided ideas of the technology enthusiasts.  They are very worried that the traditional education that is happening right now will leave the students that are in classrooms, left in the dust when they get into the real world.  I fell that these enthusiasts have a good point but, to a certain extent.  These enthusiasts believe that we are using teaching methods from the 20^th century when we should be preparing kids for the 21^st century.  I agree that jobs in today’s world have changed and technology has become a huge part of almost every job that is out there today.  I still think though that traditional education is still needed.  You don’t want a bunch of adults that can use a computer unlike anyone else but they can’t do long division.  There are certain things that everyone should know and that is why there are curriculums designated for each grade.  The enthusiasts do have a valid point that many adults forget common things that they learned in elementary school which is bound to happen.  That still doesn’t mean that we should only teach students relevant things that they need to know at that time.  They call this Just-In-Time learning.  Part of education is learning things so that down the road they can come back to you a lot faster and quicker.  Just because people can’t pull a certain fact out of their head at a certain moment doesn’t mean that they don’t know anything about it.  When they are able to look it up they can see that fact and remember that they learned it once.  Most of the time then, after they see that fact,  They are able to remember a wide array of things that go along with it because their brain remembers the connection to it.  Also if students aren’t using something right at that moment it doesn’t meant that they shouldn’t learn it because who knows that maybe down the road they might want to use it again.  When I was in high school I hated science class and never wanted to take it.  Now that I am in college I am double majoring in Biology and Natural Science.  We as teachers should try to make our students well rounded because you never know when you might have to break out of a certain box and use something that you may have learned.  It sort of goes back to whether you would want to know a little about a lot of things or a lot about a little amount of things.  Our society is becoming more and more specialized but you never know what students are going to need to learn because a lot of students don’t know exactly what they want to do when they get out of school.  It is very important to teach them technology because pretty much every job will have technology involved with it.  That is why as a teacher I will encourage my students to use technology and learn it.  I am not opposed to that.  I believe that when I become a teacher the students will most likely be more technologically inclined then me so that is why I have to stay up with the current times and incorporate it into my teaching style. 

Growing Up Online

This video showed in great detail how much technology is influencing the youth of this world.  I also know from my own personal experience and from my peers that technology plays a major role in the youths every day lives.  Some kids can go an entire day without seeing a single person but are still in contact with someone the whole day.  This may be done via texting or through a social network that is found on the internet.  The video showed how some children can live a life that is totally different from who they are in real life just by being on the internet.  In the movie some students even said that they never read books anymore.  Everything they read is on the internet or through a summary page like spark notes. This can be bad for a teacher that is trying to teach English because they of course want the students to read the book themselves.  They are missing out on many important details because a summary is just that.  It summarizes the book and doesn’t include detail and it is hard to analyze what is going on in the book.  Some students might just watch the movie online also. For math you could even go online and fine equations that will calculate the answers for you and all you have to do is type the numbers in.  This is not learning for the students.  It is just typing numbers into the computer just to get the answer.  Then when it comes time to take a test they have no idea how to do it.  This is a major problem for educators who are trying to teach students because they are constantly getting bombarded with information because of new improved technologies.

            As a future educator you cannot really fight technology because it makes up such a large part of the students life every day.  When they aren’t at school they are most likely on the computer or texting their friends.  Even when they are doing homework they might have a tab open for looking up information and another tab on facebook updating things or chatting with friends.  This can be very distracting and students might not be able to focus and learn.  As an educator I want to be creative and find ways to work with the internet and still have the kids learn.  Maybe in the future I can have to students find sources on the internet and still have them have to find two sources in actual books.  This way they can use technology but still have to learn how to get information from books and to read.  You have to find a happy medium between the uses of technology and having the students be resourceful in other ways then just clicking a mouse and having information that may or may not be credible.  It is a very difficult job because technology is covering every area of life.  When these students get out into the real world they will be using computers and getting information from them.  I have to be able to have them learn the material and still have the students be able stay interested and not rely just on that way of finding information.  Today computers are so accessible and they are everywhere.  It is very important for students to be able to use the internet and still learn concepts and use their brains to analyze things for themselves. 

Thoughts Chapters 1-3

Technologies role in education is something that is going to happen without any debate.  When most of our students can’t go through half the day without going online, it means we need to incorporate this into how we educate them.  As educators we need to prepare our students for life in the real world.  The life outside of school is using technology in an enormous amount of ways.  The jobs that our students will have are not even created yet today.  This is because technology is an ever changing and fast moving thing.  There are many helpful resources on the Web that can increase student’s ability to understand topics and to be able to look at things in a different way that maybe they can relate to better.  Students today are growing up in an age of technology that looks like it has no end in sight.  As an educator you also have to be cautious of what your students are using the technology for.  The Internet has many bad facets to it whether it is untrue information or distasteful material.  That is why teachers have to be careful on how their students are using this resource.  I feel that technology can help in many ways to educate our students and make it easier for them to relate and understand because they are using it at an alarming rate in their every day lives.

            As a future teacher I will have to stay updated with the new technologies of education.   This will be difficult because it is always changing.  I will also have to be creative in the ways I can incorporate it into my classroom.  Two of the chapters that I read had to deal with class blogs.  This is a unique and different way to get students information and have them give information back.  There are different levels of blogging that range from simple to complex.  A term that this book used a lot was the read/write Web.  This is referring to the part of the internet that you can blog or just post and comment on ideas.  This is a useful and powerful tool because students are able to create ideas and then share them to the world.  As a teacher I can utilize this tool and have the students learn in a different way then just lecturing.  This allows the students to come up with ideas themselves.  Students can then read to ideas of their other classmates and comment on them to have sort of a discussion.  One of the best ways for students to learn is to analyze something and reflect.  This allows the students to come up with their own realizations about the topics.  The students will then truly be thinking about it and putting their own thoughts down.  By doing this in a blog is allows them to be published throughout the entire world.  This shows that technology is making the world smaller with its advances.  Since schools and homes are becoming more and more computer friendly it will be easier as a teacher to incorporate this into my classes and allow me to use this educational resource.  There are many diverse ways I can use a blog in my classroom and by doing so I can keep many students informed and in a non-traditional way that can keep the students more interested and wanting to learn.

What I took from class today 9/16

One thing that I took from class today is that as a teacher you have to focus on teaching your students for the future and not the way you were tought in the past.  I think this is very important because as a new teacher you may think that you want to teach the way you were tought but, as a teacher you want to prepare your students for the future.  We have to prepare them for some jobs that arn't even created yet.  I also learned in class today that there are many differing views on the use of technolohy in the classroom.  The public school system will have to adapt to this new technology if we want to prepare the students we have. 

The Credibility of Websites

Everything in the World Wide Web is not as credible as some people thing, especially students.  I am pretty sure that in the past I probable took some information from some non-credible sources.  It is not like the past when you could only look at published books for information.  The internet is a lot different place because anyone can make a website and put things on there.  The first thing I would talk to my students about when beginning the discussion on whether a website is credible or not, is the meaning of credibility.  Or ask them what makes someone or something a credible source.  I would than tell them that there are a lot of websites that are not credible because non-credible people made them up.  One main step that I would tell them to watch out for that all of my teachers in the past mentioned to me is that .com or .net are not very credible sites.  .gov or .org are usually more credible sites but not all the time.  It can be a helpful hint to keep in mind because .gov is usually from the government and .org can be from a credible organization but, is could also be from a non-credible organization.  I would then tell them to look on the website and try to see if there is a get to know the author or a link that tells them who made this site and why.  Most credible websites have this link and you can see their credentials on there.  Usually websites where the government has made them are the most credible.  If a popular organization made the website and you have heard of them then they are most likely credible.  If the website doesn’t have any about us and they are giving important information than it is most likely not credible.  A quick way to see if a website is not good to use would be to look at the spelling and grammar of the website.  If the website is very poorly put together with a lot of words spelled wrong than it is not credible.  Another thing to look for is if you can edit the page yourself.  If anyone can edit the page it is definitely not a credible site.  I am not saying that what the people are putting down is 100% wrong, I am just saying that it is not a good site to get information from.  Anyone could just put whatever they want on that site and not care.  Also anything that has Wiki in it is not a credible site.  Again some of the information might be correct but you have to watch what you are looking at.  I would definitely check other sites and verify that information is repeated in other places.  The more sources from other sites make the credibility of the information more powerful and backed up.  You have to watch out and be careful when you are looking at websites on the internet.  There are a lot of non-credible websites out there. 

My thoughts on Chapter 1

This reading has made me kind of open my eyes that technology is really being fully integrated into pretty much every level of education and not just the upper levels.  One reason for this is the reading uses the word revolution.  It sort of compares this “Knowledge Revolution to the Industrial Revolution in America.  The Industrial Revolution was a massive change that happened in American society and really changed almost every facet of life.  This Knowledge Revolution has not just started, it has been going on for a while and it will continue to keep getting bigger and bigger.  It seems that technology keeps replacing the old form and improving.  That is why there really is no end insight because people just keep continuing to improve it.  This reading sort of scares me a little because technology is really changing the way teachers teach and the way students learn.  Just by all of the stories that they mentioned in the beginning of chapter one, it really made me think that education today is  not just about students listening to a teacher and learning.  People do not even have to go to an actual classroom to get degrees.  They can just go online and take classes.  I took a summer class this summer where everything was online.  I never even had to leave my house to get five credits towards my education.  The only time I saw my teacher is when he posted a pod cast explaining how to do something.  It really wasn’t a bad experience at all.  Some of the stories even talked about students dropping out of school and still becoming successful.  In know way do I agree that students should drop out of school but, it is still amazing that you can be successful by using the technologies in front of you without having a high school diploma. 

            With this new thinking of a “Knowledge Revolution” happening right now I will try to keep up with the latest technologies.  I will try to integrate what kids are doing today in my teaching.  I feel that if you can not relate to your students it is very difficult for them to learn and respect you as an educator.  I do not want to use technology as a crutch in any way, but I feel that it can be helpful to keep my future students interested because they think technology is interesting.  I want to be a secondary science teacher and in science technology is very important.  That is why it is very important that I know what is going on in the wide world of technology that is constantly changing.  I then have to be creative enough in my classroom to actually get the lesson across to them.  The most important thing is that the students learn and if using technology will make it so that goal is more achievable then that is what I will need to incorporate as a future teacher, especially in this new “Knowledge Revolution.”

Exit Slip: What I Learned In Class Today

In class today I learned how difficult smart boards can be to use.  It made me look like my handwriting was from a third grader.  Using is smart board is something that you most likely can not learn from a lecture.  You have to have hands on experience to master a task like that.  I also  learned what a Wiki is.  I had an idea that anyone can post or edit things on it.  The Class Wiki will be helpful to remember what we did in class and be a good reminder.  Another interesting thing that I learned from class was that Delicious can be a very useful site.  I had no idea that there were websites devoted totally to bookmarks and favorites.  This will be a very helpful and usefull resource in the future to keep websites organized and very accessible.  This class is helping me so far on introducing me to new technology that is very easy to use and easy to find. 

My Digital Autobiography

My Digital Autobiography

1. On this task of creating a digital autobiography I felt that I put a good amount of effort into it.  It took me a couple of hours to find the pictures that I wanted to put into this autobiography and really show my life.  It is pretty difficult to show your life in just ten pictures but I feel that these ten pictures are very informative because they are all very important and special things in my life.  It tried both the Vuvox and Animoto sites when working on this project and picked this Vuvox one because I liked it better and if flowed smoother. 

2. The value of creating this course task is to be able to create a slide show by using different technology that I have never tried.  Being able to take regular pictures and put them onto the computer to make a slide show with music is a valuable skill that can be used in many different ways.  Creating slide shows can be a useful tool in helping a person get points across to another person or group.  It was also very interesting looking at old pictures that I hadn't seen in years and picking pictures that are important to me.

3. By creating this course task it helps me in the long run for teaching because I would be able to create a slide show for m students with pictures to have them learn in a different an interesting way.  Also, students love to know a little bit about their teacher and having a digital autobiography gives me an opportunity to show this to them and tell them a little bit about me.  I could always add to this and it can help me break the ice with my students. 

What is Technology and Technology Integration?

1. Technology is a mechanical addition that allows a certain task or job to become easier and also makes it able for a person to understand it better.


2. Technology integration is applying technology to a certain area or job that previously did not have it. It could also be upgrading a previous form of technology with a new one. Students that are learning about a new form of technology or how to use that technology is what technology integration looks like. You can see the students learning a new technology and apply it to the classroom to help them learn easier or in a different way.