Blog Post #6

Networked Student by Wendy Drexler

The networked student in this particular video is majoring in American Psychology. He uses his knowledge to find sites that would be valuable while he is still grasping the information about the real facts of American Psychology. Wendy Drexler explained in this video that the networked students will not be effective learners without the connections that makes all of this possible. This student is apart of the 21st century high school, and is using the internet and other ways to connect and find facts.

Google Scholars is one of the important gateways for this student to find scholarly articles that would support his lesson topics. This student is also apart of the social bookmarking site, which helps him to search for blogs that would disagree are agree with any particular argument and where he can post new informative ideas that he has found.  He also found that his mp3 player is much more than a music box, but it enables him to use iTunes U to find actual professors giving scholarly lessons at Yale University. He also uses wikispaces to create story boards and other things that would help him to enhance his experience as an American Psychology major.

One of the questions on this video that was very debatable, asked why does he need a teacher to network? Well, he needs a teacher for guidance, to learn how to communicate properly, to learn to differentiate good information from propaganda, and to maintain the continuation of networking to navigate properly. Teacher should always be the navigator and should always help you to learn about new tools.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment

Compared to the PLN's that we should be working on for class, I think that I am on the right track. The 7th grader PLE was very interesting, I like how she had her school work and important info in folders at the top and at the bottom she organized all of her accounts like Facebook and Twitter. Even though these technological tools are very efficient and less time consuming, she said that is easily to get off focus. I was very fascinated about how she was able to find different ways to access things that pertained to her project. For those who are not as technologically literate, she even explained how she could ask a scientist a question and they can reply back, and she could also use Skpe to talk to the scientists over the web. Since I already knew that you could do this, I will try and use my PLN very effectively with added modifications that were not mentioned in her video.

Critiques of Smartboards 

Michael Staton, Why Smartboards are a Dumb Initiative

Michael thinks that smartboards are a dumb initiative because administrators to him are buying these tools to point at and count. Michael Staton says that using smartboards does not give kids the correct environment to actually learn something.  To him it is a dumb investment because it does not reduce the teachers work load, it does not enable social networking and it does not make the lesson plan efficient. Michael Staton is trying to say that if it can not help in theses areas of learning than it is a waste of his time.

Bill Ferriter, Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards

Bill says that Whiteboards are just sitting up in the classrooms for decoration. Bill said that this gizmo did not help his teaching curriculum to be any easier than it already was, to him the computer was much more helpful than the whiteboard. Even with a teacher who has taken out the time to learn and who have had training, Bill says that it is just an irresponsible purchase.  When companies say that whiteboards are the bridge to technology, to him they are saying it is just a replica of the traditional instructional practices.

http://medt3401.blogspot.com/2010/04/smart-board-smart-idea.html

C4K summary post

Jordan L, was the first student blog that I commented on and his blog title was "My Opinion". He stated that him and other fourth graders were having trouble with the third graders during lunch time. For lunch, instead of the fourth graders going to the cafeteria they have to eat at their desks. Jordan thinks that it is unfair because the fifth and third graders makes the most noises and gets in trouble the most, but the cafeteria employees blames the fourth graders for everything that happens.

Aimee S, was the second student blog that I commented on and her title was about riddles. Aimee in my opinion thinks about the riddles a lot before she post them on her blog. The riddles made a lot of since and some of the riddles were very fascinating to read. Understanding the concepts of a riddle and what it means is very crucial and tells whether it is fascinating or if it does not make any since.

Zach B's, was the third student blog that I commented on and his title was "My New Airsoft Gun".  Now I really don't know if this gun is real or fake, but he seemed very excited about his new gun.  He explained and said that it shoots straight line shots, and is great for entering and winning the airsoft war. 

Project #9b

Blog Post #5

100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better

Reading all the different applications, podcasts, and study guides informed me of all the things that I can do with my iPod. I know now that this apple device that I invested in can help me with almost everything that pertains to college work. It is so wonderful that people who are not English speakers can take ESL classes on their iPod. One of the Applications that is very useful for a college student is the iGadget application. In the iGadget application I am able to make presentations, study guides, and class notes. The PodGourmet 2.0 application seemed to be overwhelmingly flabbergasting because a person is able to make a gourmet meal and teach themselves to be a master chef. The Apple iPod is a great investment and I encourage my fellow students and colleagues to get one of these magnificent digital tools.

Judy Scharf Podcast Selection

I learned a lot from this reading because it discussed almost everything that pertains to podcasts. As a person who has used podcasts for musical reasoning's, I like how the suggestions for podcast projects could be on Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. I learned that the term podcast cross between the meanings of iPod and broadcast. The podcast is a great way to broadcast something that is important to you to where millions of people can get it and listen to. This is a tool that I will need when I begin my student teaching, and it will help the students to show other people the things that they have accomplished in school. I also like how Mrs. Scharf made up a grading sheet and a podcast rubric, which a a great guideline to what I should look forward to when I begin to teach.

Practical Principles with Melinda Miller and Scott Elias

In this particular reading about the principals of using podcasts I learned more about syndication and Feedburner. In the principals discussed in the postings by Melinda and Scott, they reviewed some of the things that were discussed in my C4T blogs, for example, evernote is the tool that is great for writing research papers. So what Melinda and Scott has done is that they use the different applications and tools for podcasts and their show.  Then they discuss different issues of what technical problems they had and how people can benefit from these valuable tools. They also posted links on their website so that people are able to view and understand the significance of technology. I was also able to learn how to create my PD plan, which will help me with my teaching skills.

Blog Post #4

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?  

I think that Dr. McLeod discussed some very important issues that face the kids of today's society. Kids are very vulnerable to get on the internet and look at websites that are not for their appropriate age group. I know that children can get in trouble by using the internet and other technological resources, but if the adults block those websites or use the tools that are available then kids will be much safer when using these technological tools.  Everything that was stated in Dr. McLeod blog is what is actually happening to today's kids.

So who is Dr. McLeod?  Dr. McLeod is an associate professor in the Educational Administration program at the Iowa State University, he is currently located in Ames, Iowa. Dr. McLeod is also the Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (Castle).


The iShcool Initiative


I think that this video may be the future of what schools could become in today's society. Using the iSchool to help students with their school work and to bring the school budget costs down can help the students, teachers, parents and go green companies. If each student can approximately save six hundred dollars than I think this would be a plan that can turn the downfalls of the school systems budget to where teachers will be assured to keep a job in the educational field.

Since I have an itouch I would agree with this high school senior that the iSchool will be worth the students money. Students will not have to by expensive books, graphing calculators, or paper anymore. I think that this invention will not only help students to save money, but it will help them to be more interested in doing their school work. Even when I use my email I am much more interested in doing my work then writing my teacher a note on a piece of plain paper. 

The Lost Generation


I agree with what the video was stating, because I do refuse to say that I am apart of a lost generation.  To me a lost generation is where people do not care about the importance of life and everything should be a quick fix. Even though, things may seem that way in today's society but we can reverse it by doing what is most important for us as teachers and the students of the future. Teachers may not be doing there best to teach students the importance of learning, but all of this can change. If the people of today's society reinforce the true facts that will drive this generation into the right direction, then we will not become that lost generation.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

Being a musician who has actually performed this exact piece last year is actually exciting. Listening to this performance was very interesting, especially when a choir that has 185 members that has never rehearsed in a group. In Eric Whitacre's 'Lux Aurumque', the technical things in this piece makes the piece sound so beautiful. With each of the choir parts contrasting against each other, the virtual choir makes it sound much more easier to sing, then the actual work that has to be put into this piece to make such a wonderful glorious sound.

Virtual choirs to me is very debatable because even when each individual is working on their own parts there can still be a few uneven pitches that can be out of tune in virtual choirs, to where the audience does not hear it. Knowing this piece so well there were a few moments where the dynamic quality was not as intriguing as it would be in a regular performing choir. It seemed as if the dynamic quality of soft was rapidly shifting from different sections to loud where there is actually soft written in the music.

Teaching in the 21st Century


I think that the suggestions expressed in this video can help teachers to be more aware of what students already know and what they need to learn. Students already have the knowledge of using Google, Wikipedia and other popular internet sites. But the question for teachers is, are we teaching technology in a way that is resourceful to the students that we teach? It does not matter if your are a teacher who teaches skills, subjects or content, knowing and learning the resourcefulness of technology can be absolutely critical to a students daily learning experience in your classroom.

I think that to teach in the 21st century means using the latest technological tools in a way that you are reproducing students abilities to access resources in the correct way. Using daily questions is a perfect example of what students and teachers use these technological tools for. For instance, you type into Google, what is the nearest gas station? This is an example of what students of today already know how to do, but they need someone to teach them how to use Taxonomy's Law correctly.

Project #6 This is My Sentence

C4T#1

The teacher that I was assigned to was Ms. Jenny She. The first post that I commented on was about teachers not giving up on students. I think that all students should be able to get a second chance no matter how bad they are. This post was so touching because the example used was a starfish that was given a second chance to live and not die. The child said that saving one starfish can make a difference. To me saving one child from being left behind makes a big difference. It should not be about me, but it should be about the students, and making sure that they are excelling in their school subjects.

The second post that I commented on was about Ms. Jenny She's cultural activities that was used to help her students interact with the world. These students not only interacted, but they learned about a different culture. Cultural activities should be apart of every schools teaching plan. These students had fun playing the roles of another culture that was diverse from their own. Learning should be done in different ways and I think that Ms. She did a great job of helping her students to interact with the world.

Blog Post #3

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today

Some of the interesting facts in this video reflects to a portion of my college experience. I buy textbooks that I have never used during the entire semester. I think that it is just a waste to even use books in classrooms that are not useful for book users. When the video stated that technology is a turning point for the better of educating students in the classrooms, it is somewhat a question that can not be answered. If students say that they are using facebook while in the classroom, then what are they learning, I say nothing. It is very true that the costs of these computerized machines exceeds some of the job salaries. There are many of my classmates who have payed for a class and they never attend, which usually results in a failing grade.

As I watched this video some of the statements were not related to my college experience. Most people say that the average college student makes less than a dollar per day, but in my case I have a job that pays more than a dollar.  If I have my computer with me in class, I am not the type of person to get on my facebook page while the teacher is lecturing. College is important to me and learning is my main goal to succeed in my field. Students have to learn to choose between what is best for them when it comes to learning.

"It's Not About The Technology" by Kelly Hines

Ms. Kelly Hines has some very good points about teachers not getting the concept of teaching students to where they can learn. Kelly is trying to say that technology will not create an easy way for students to learn without being taught. As she stated in her writing, most teachers think that if they have gone over the material a hundred times and the students do not understand, than it is the students problem, but according to Ms. Hines it is the teachers problem.

Ms. Hines also stated in her writing that many teachers misuse technology. They think that technology can teach the students, but teachers can only teach students. Their were many valuable points for why teachers who are not innovative does not do innovative things with their students. Ms. Kelly also said that teachers must be learners. We as teachers must be up to date on the latest of innovative technology and should be willing to learn something new every day.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count


I was flabbergasted as the media counts for the different social networks changed so quickly.  Their were so many things happening at one time that I could not keep up with the numbers. This is an important example of how fast the world is changing. Every second someone has sent an email or has sent a tweet to another person. As a teacher this is telling me the things that I should know before I start teaching and what I should expect from students. Even though people are using technology at a substantial rate, students in schools are being forced to be on lock down when it comes to the classroom. I am not saying that their is something totally wrong with not having some type of technology, but their are some students who will use their digital smartness for unwise things.

Project #5