Timetoast Timeline 9a

Blog Assignment #5

100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better


What a great site. I love the ideas that are given. There are so many things that can be done with an iPod other that just listening to music. This site offers links from everything to study guides and notes, to step by step instructions on creating a podcast.


Eagles' Nest Radio & Class Bog


Wow! What a great example of using technology in the classroom to keep students interested in learning. I would love to do this with my future students. I think this would be a great way to keep children interested in learning, and their parents would actually get to listen to what the children were doing in school. I love this!


Judy Scharf Podcast Collection


This site by Judy Scharf tells you everything you need to know about podcasts. It tells you what a podcast is and has step by step instructions on how to create a podcast. I think this site will be extremely helpful when teaching students to create a podcast.

Blog Assignment #4

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?


I was really intrigued by Scott McLeod's post Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?. I think this post was very well written. I was a little thrown off at first, but thought this was a great way to make a point. I think that technology plays a very important part in helping our children to learn, and those that keep them from using technology are only harming them. 


I visited Scott McLeod's webpage, and took a look around. He seems to be very up to date with technology. It was interesting to learn that he was the co-creator of the Did You Know? videos.


The iSchool Initiative


I think The iSchool Initiative is a great concept. I can see the opportunity for parents, students, teachers, and schools to save money. By eliminating paper, books, pencils, etc, each school system could save a great deal of money, but I do not think that you can completely rid schools of these items. There seem to be many pros to the iSchool Initiative, but I can't seem to fathom having everything we do in schools linked to an iPod or an iPad. 


The iSchool Initiative would give parents access to their children's assignments from any phone or computer, which is a great idea. But I also think that this would eliminate the parent-teacher relationship which I feel is important. Also, everything being on an iPod would eliminate face-to-face interactions between teachers and students. 


As apprehensive as some teachers are to using technology today, I think that it would be extremely difficult to implement this program.


 The Lost Generation


I think The Lost Generation is an amazing video. As I watched, all I could think about what how much time went into making it. So, I had to watch it again! I definitely think that is a quick fix society, and hopefully there is a way to reverse it. This video conveys a great message! 


Eric Whitaker's Virtual Choir


This Virtual Choir is unbelievable. The things that can be done with technology today still continue to amaze me. If something of this magnitude can be create by a group of people that have never even met, then I can only imagine what else could be accomplished. Working together on the internet like this makes the possibilities seem infinite. 

Additional Assignment #1

Before this assignment, I had never heard of either Google Squared or WolframAlpha. I think there are great search engines, with many educational implications. They would both be great for projects in school, or just to find out information. In WolframAlpha,  I typed  in my birthday (November 21, 1984) and learned that I was born 9,429 days ago! I also typed in a math formula, and it showed me the graph of the parabola, and many other things. 

Dr. Strange's comments on the "Did You Know?" really put things into perspective. We are relatively small in population compared to China and India. 

The Food for Thought post really made me think about the use of technology. As advanced as we are in technology, the stable boy who had never seen an iPad before, was able to use it.

Summary Post C4T #1

For the past two weeks, I have been reading and commenting on John Spencer's blog, Tom Johnson's Adventures in Pencil Integration. I found this blog to be very interesting. The first blog post that I commented on was "Meat the Teacher Fiasco." This blog was about "meet" the teacher night turning into a "meat" the teacher barbecue. I think this "typo" actually created a great situation for the teacher and student. A barbecue or soccer game can ease the tension between teacher and students, and make the "getting to know each other" situation easier to deal with. 


The second blog post that I commented on was "show and tell." I think that show and tell is a great way to get kids, even if they are a little older, to open up and find new ways to express themselves. Even the "shy or unpopular" children may be able to break out of their shells. It might be easier for these children to open up if they are talking to the class about something that actually matters to them, instead of doing a book report or other presentation on something they may not care about at all.

Blog Assignment #3

A Vision of Students Today

I think this video gives great insight into the life of a college student. Just about every student I know, myself included, has sent text messages or been on Facebook during class. I have seen numerous status updates saying "I'm in class," or "I can't seem to get off Facebook and finish my homework." The girl who wrote that she would read only 8 books this year, but would read 2300 webpages, and 1281 Facebook profiles, shocked me. I think that the internet and social networking sites are a great way to find out information and keep in touch, but I also think they serve as a great distraction. 

Another shocking statistic was the average class size being 115, and that only 18% of professors knew their names. Luckily, here at the University of South Alabama, we have class sizes nowhere near 115. The largest class size I've had was about 50, and the smallest was 11, and I think that most all of my professors know my name. 

It's Not About the Technology

In Kelly Hines' blog "It's Not About the Technology," she describes what is needed to positively impact this new generation of learners, and "it's not about the technology." As Hines said, "technology is useless without good teaching," and I completely agree. A teacher can have all the resources in the world, but if you do not present the material in a way children can understand, you have taught them nothing.

What stood out to me the most was when she said "When we put innovative tools in the hands of innovative teachers, amazing things can happen. If you put these tools in the hands of teachers who are not willing to innovate, money has been wasted." I think this is so true. Here in the Mobile County Public School System we are striving to put SmartBoards in all classrooms, many of which already have them. I know several teachers who use the SmartBoard, and the tools and resources that come with them, everyday; and then there are others who rarely use the SmartBoard, or that only utilize them as a regular white board. I don't think technology is the answer to learning, but I think it can be a great tool to help!

Is It Okay to Be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

In the post, Is It Okay to Be a Technologically Illiterate Teacher?, Karl Fisch, answers that very question. I do not think that it is okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher, for many different reasons. First of all, children today are becoming more and more technologically literate at a younger age. We as teachers need to be able to keep up. As we saw last week in the Mr. Winkle Wakes video, technology is changing all around us, and we need to as well. 

Also, as discussed in Fisch's blog, some find humor in the fact that they are "illiterate" in some areas. Whether it's computers or math, illiteracy is not something to be made light of. I definitely know people that are content with being technologically illiterate. We as teachers should always strive to learn more.   

Gary Hayes Social Media Count

I think this is amazing. I started this assignment, then realized 10 minutes later, that I was still just staring at this social media counter. It is hard for me to comprehend what all of this actually means. What will the numbers look like an hour from now? Or tomorrow? Or a year from now? This just puts the rate at which everything is growing into perspective.

Google Presentation

Blog Assignment #2

Did You Know?

I have actually seen the Did You Know video before, and I think that the rate at which technology is expected to change is amazing! When the video stated that "the amount of new technical information is doubling every two years" I was shocked. I don't see how it would be possible to keep up. I think that us, as future educators, have to keep an open mind and try to keep up as best we can.

I was actually having a conversation the other day about the amount of stuff people "google" everyday. "To whom were questions addresses B.G.? (Before Google)" I don't remember! You can find anything you need or need to know on the internet. There are websites to help you write a report, there are dating websites to find your soulmate, and you do not even have to leave your house anymore to get that Christmas shopping done! With all of that technology out there, I don't find it suprising that there will be a supercomputer that exceeds the computational abilities of the human brain within the next few years!



Mr. Winkle Wakes


In the video Mr. Winkle Wakes, Mr. Winkle wakes up after being asleep for 100 years. He notices how in offices and hospitals everything has changed. There are computer and machines that he has never seen before. He then goes to a school where everything is just the way he remembers it. Children are still siting in desks, listening to the teacher, just the way they had 100 years before! This shows how far behind most schools are with technology.

I feel that the reason most schools are behind in technology is the lack of funding. But, even with the lack of funding, there are still many ways that teachers can keep up with technology. I think that teachers need to keep up with technology. The rate at which children are learning to use computers is amazing. I have a seven year old that definitely knows his way around a computer. Therefore, as teachers I think that we have to try to keep up!



The Importance of Creativity

To me creativity is extremely important. Teachers have to be creative everyday. We are creative with lessons and the way we communicate information to our children, and if they don't understand it the first time, we have to create a new way to deliver the information so that they can understand. Yet we as educators, can crush a child's creativity. We expect children to sit and learn reading, writing, and arithmetic, but with the lack of funding in schools we are taking away art, music, and dance. Some children excel in math, while others excel in music or art. We need to let children have a creative outlet to do what they are good at. 


In Sir Ken Robinson's video The Importance of Creativity, he made a statement that will stick with me forever. He said that "creativity in education is as important as literacy." I feel that we need to let children that excel in music, art, and dance, have the same opportunities to do so in school, as those that excel in reading, writing, and arithmetic.



Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

I think that this video showed a great example of a classroom where children were excited to learn. Like Vicki Davis said in this video, "when you have only paper, and only pencils, only certain types of children are going to succeed." I think that Mrs. Davis is definitely an example of a technologically literate teacher. She does not know everything that there is to know about technology, because who could keep up, but she is willing to learn, even if it is her students teaching her. Customizing the curriculum and what goes on in the classroom to fit the individual student, or group of students, is a great way to make sure that every child reaches their full potential. 


I believe that this group of students will be far ahead of their peers when they get into the workforce. The technology that they have learned will be extremely beneficial to their future employers. The way she is making them look things up and find out for themselves will help them rely more on their own skills, instead of having to be told how to do everything. I hope that as a teacher I can help my children to do the same.

Wordle