Thursday, February 24, 2011

C4K

C4K 1
My first comment was on Alexis C's blog. Her post was titled All About Geometry. She wrote about angles and explained the three types of angles: right, obtuse, and acute. I left her a comment saying that I was glad she was interested in Geometry and that she was on the right track with the angles.
C4K 2
My second assignment was a podcast book review by Joshua and Matthew. The book was called "A Dog So Small". They did a very good job on this podcast and told about the book without giving the ending away. I left them a comment saying that I enjoyed it and they made me want to read the book to find out what happens.
C4K 3
My 3rd kid blog was Timoteo's Blog. This is hid fifth year blogging. He did not have anything written in this year yet, so I wrote him a comment on how I look forward to reading when he does have post. I also told him that I was amazed this was his fifth year to have a blog considering this is only my first.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Blog Post 6

The Networked Student
This video is about of course a networked student. This means that the student uses technology to learn instead of the old way of textbooks and teacher lectures. In fact the teacher of this class rarely lectures at all. She encourages creativity from the student in finding his/her own way of learning the topics. The student uses a network of learning.
A network of learning includes everything the student uses to learn. For example blogs, podcasts, etc... The student finds all of this on the internet. They can use Google Scholar to find articles from professors around the world on the topic they are learning.They subscribe to blogs to figure out differences of opinions on the topic. The students are embracing the new technology, because it ultimately can teach them more about the topic then the regular textbook can.
So why does the networked student need a teacher? Well, the teacher is there to teach them how to use the network. He/She can give them information to look up to help them understand how the network works. The teacher is there to differentiate between scholarly work or propaganda. The teacher teaches the learning network so his/her students can be better prepared for the future.
A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment
This 7th grader's personal learning environment is similar to mine. She is given the same tools I am to learn. She has the same freedom of surfing the internet that I do. On the other hand hers seems way more organized. She has everything in perfect working order. This is pretty amazing in that she is only in the 7th grade. This tells me that kids today are learning a lot more than when I was in the 7th grade. Another thing is I need to get with the program and learn more about this to teach my students.
Critique of Smartboards
This certain blog explains how smartboards can be effective. You do not need a mouse for the smartboard everything can be done by touching it with a finger or special pen. Educational games can be played on it without the the use of all kinds of transferring cords and computers. There can be downloading of educational movies etc... The blog also talks about how efficient training needs to be done before using the smartboard. In the post about how the smartboard is useless the writers made the argument that everything thing done on the smartboard is just as easy on a regular whiteboard and that is less expensive. The blog that supports the smartboards encourages users of them to be trained and see then if the smartboard is better.http://blog-efl.blogspot.com/2007/08/interactive-whiteboard-white-elephant.html

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Blog Post 5

The first resource I read was the 3rd grade podcast. This was a great teaching tool, and I was fascinated by how well the third graders were able to use this technology. They did a podcast on Ancient Rome. They did exceptionally well teaching the subject and talking about it. I learned that my podcast needs to be creative and needs to cover the subject well enough for my readers to learn it.
The next resource was the benefits of podcasting in the classroom. This video described the benefits of using podcasts. Some of them are: a great way to interact with students outside the classroom, promotes creativity and innovation, and parents can see and hear what their kids are doing at school. Watching this I learned that podcasting is very effective and a great teaching tool. Not only does it help the students, but also gets the parents involved. I know now that my podcats can be a great way to teach others the topic of berp back education the topic my group is assigned.
The third and final resource I looked at was The Education Podcast Network. This mainly is used to inform the new teaching and learning styles of the 21st Century. It goes in to detail about how useful podcasting is and how in this new century it should be in the classrooms. And the Judy Scharf Podcast Collection gives information on how to do my podcast. It shows you how to set up a podcast and how to edit it. This also gives the benefits of podcasting in education. I learned from these pages that I need to put adequate time into my project and make it as good as it can be. Again podcasting is a great teaching tool and should be used in an efficient manner.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Blog Post 4

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?
Scott McLeod is a very distinguished doctor and widely recognized as one of the nation's leading academic experts on K-12 school technology leadership issues. Dr. Mcleod gave his position on certain things such as blogs that he teaches his students to do. He states sarcastically that we should not teach the students this, because there is to much stuff on the internet that is bad. I agree with his position on that we need to teach the students these things to better help them in the future. The technology is becoming better and better and I believe soon that nothing will be done on pen and paper. So the kids today need to learn about computers and how to use the internet efficiently.
The iSchool Initiative (Mobile Learning)
In this video Travis argues the effectiveness of having a school on the iTouch. He gives great points such as how much money we would save per student. This is about $600. He also shows how everything can be done on the iTouch from textbooks to calculators. He shows how this could have direct impact on student and teacher accountability. This would also help the ecosystem with no paper being used. And can be purchased for only $150.
I believe that this is a great way to do things. This will cut down on the costs for the students and teachers. It will help the environment. The world will become more interactive, and students will get to meet other students from around the world. But if this ever happens I believe it is way down the road, and might not ever happen.
The Lost Generation
My reaction to this video is that we need to reverse the way we look at the world. How today it is more about money than happiness. And work comes before family. It seems like today more people are caught up in their jobs and what not to see what's happening in front of them. This video uses a great technique, at the end of the first speech it says the world will end up this way if we do not reverse it. And then it reverses the same speech to show what will happen if it is change.
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
This was a video of 185 people performing "Lux Aurumque". These people have never met and it was done all through the internet. I think this is fascinating that this can be done. I did not know the internet was this powerful and could be used this way. And it is getting better everyday.
Teaching in the 21st Century
Teaching in the 21st Century is a whole new way of teaching. There is so many new and reliable resources out there now. Teachers should make students learn these new resources and use them. This will help them be in the 21st Century and not in a later date. To teach in the 21st Century means to give the students more resources that are at their fingertips. Show them how the world of technology is out their and offers wonderful opportunities.