WEEK 2 ASSIGNMENTS

A VISION OF STUDENTS TODAY

Mr. Wesch's video shows facts about the typical college students of today. Even though I consider myself the typical college student, most of my facts do not match the ones in this video. Unlike those in the video: I work an average of 6 hours each day; spend only 1 hour on the computer a day; get close to 6 hours of sleep each night; and before I came to the University of South Alabama ALL of my teachers knew me by name. This video does say alot about how much students struggle in today's college setting. I liked the general layout of the video, even though I would have liked to see images of these people other countries; or even of the students with their topic instead f it just written on a piece of paper.

Showing how much books, tuition, and computers cost compared to how much someone may make in a day and to how much a family may make in a year, really puts things in perspective for me. The average laptop cost more than that family makes in one year's wages. That is a very disturbing figure for me. I cannot believe that it is possible to live off that much less of money in a years time. I know that I would run through that money in at least a month, maybe two alone. That really concerns me on how we live in our country these days.

IT'S NOT ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY

I, for the most part, agree with Mrs. Hines. In the past 2 semesters of preparing to be a teacher most of what I have heard is about new software, better technology aids, and and all the programs I needed to be profficent in to become a good teacher, and frankly I felt overwhelmed. I always thought teaching with enthusiasm for my subject would be one of the best 'tools' I could bring to the table. I am NOT ,however, saying that technology is not an impotant part of teaching these days. I know that there are many programs out there to aid myself and my students in learning the subject best; just that sometimes it can get in the way if you do not utilize it correctly.

The part I find myself disagreeing with Mrs. Hines is her number 4 point. I am not blind to the world I live in, the world of technology. We as a society have come to a point where technology is everywhere, and we need to start utilizing it. I believe that we need to use technology as much as we can in the classroom so that we can get our lessons acroos better to our students. The trick to that is just to use the technology as a GUIDE for the information, NOT as the teacher! We as teachers have a duty to prepare our studentsfor the future, and if technology will help us do this the best I say we use it.

IS IT OKAY TO BE A TECHNOLOGICALLY ILLITERATE TEACHER

I agree with Mr. Fisch in that we should not flaunt that we are technologically illiterate, but be embarassed of it. However, I disagree with him that being tech-illiterate today is like not being able to read and write 30 years ago. I kjnow that technology is a huge part of the world today, but I believe that people in general can get by with the basics on a computer and that be enough. In the future I do expect everyone to be able to use a computer at their disposal for whatever they want, and be able to do it with profficency. I just believe that we are not at the point in our society where it is as devistating as not being able to read or write.

Reading and writing are probably the most important skills everyone needs to have, being technologically literate is moving up on the list but has yet to make it to the top for me. I think we will see it happen when students are made to take computer classes from an early age, not just in junior high and above. I also agree with Mr. Fisch in that a teacher should not be unwilling to learn more about technology. This goes back to teachers being continuous learners throughout their careers. We must strive to be the best that we can be for our students, and give them the tools that they will need for the future.

GARY'S SOCAIL MEDIA COUNTS

This is probably one of the coolest counter I have encoutnered on the web in a while. It basically shows us how much internet based we are as a society these days. In just under 2 minutes my counter showed that there had been over 3.5 million new searches on Google alone. Which makes me think back to our first assignment that asked who were these questions posted to before Google??

The reason I believe that this counter has some significance to me as a teacheer is that it show me how much is actually being done on the interent; and it was probably being done by someone I, or someone like me, will teach someday. We need to learn these new technologies so that we can better communicate with our students. We as teachers need to stay up to date on everything that our students may use to help them learn, so that we may also learn from it.

WEEK 1 ASSIGNMENTS

DID YOU KNOW?

This video showed a lot of facts that were real 'eye openers' for me. It seems unfathomable to me that by the year 2049 we could have invented a computer that not only is affordable, but will also be smarter than the entire population of the world combined. That we could have 5x as many words in the English language now as we did in Shakespeare's time is really cool to me. Just think of where that number will be in 50 years!
The way technology had grown just in the last 20 or so years is also extroidinary. That it can only take a few years for a company to reach its goal audianceand then by the time that they do that something better or more advanced has come along to rival it. We live in a world that is constantly growing in every aspect, and for one I am beginning to feel very small.

MR. WINKLE WAKES

Mr. Winkle seems to me a very lucky man, because he got to see the future! He also took in the changes that can come in 100 years in a very calm manner though. In a way I feel as if some peole have already been through this expeirence. My grandparents, and even my parents for that matter, have seen technology grow right in front of their eyes.
The fact that computers have almost become a mainstream, everday item would probably seem strange to someone 20 years ago. It is certainly true that technology has grown extremely in the past 50 years. BUT the cool thing to me is that we have only begun to scratch the surface of what could, and probably will be.

SCHOOLS KILL CREATIVITY

After seeing Ken's speech about how schools can kill creativity in students, I agree with him. Today's public education system is mainly focused on one thing and onething only: high test scores! This means that the main focus in schools today is getting the right answer. Kids are not asked to explore options or be creative, they are told what they should think and do. I have always been told to learn from your mistakes and that these mistakes would make me stronger. The system we have in placew today teaches kids that one way is right and to think outside the box is basically wrong.
Ken's example of the young girl with a "learning problem" is a great point. The teacher told her mother that she had a problem and needed to be tested for it. When really all she was doing is wanting to dance instead of sit still in class. Today we would tell the parents that the kid probably needed medication to calm her down. When really all we are doing is squandering a creative mind by trying to 'fix' the problem that may not exist.

HARNESSING YOUR STUDENT'S DIGITAL SMARTS

In this video I saw and heard some things that I have no clue how to do, or what they are. These are just kids in high schools around the world and they are having more options with computers than when I did in high school, which was just 3 years ago. I can admit that I have no clue what a teraform is and that I have never made an avatar for my self. I wouldn't know where to begin.
It is a great oppurtunity for those kids that are getting to learn about their "digital smarts". I wish that I had had a class like that. In which not only could I learn from the teacher but that they could learn from me too. Advancing kids with the newest technologies we have to offer is a very smart thing to do. Every school should have a program like these.