RICHARD MILLER HOW WE DREAM PARTS 1 AND 2
As part one of the two part video ended I found myself thinking okay that was all nice and good but what was he talking about? I understand that he is using this multimedia program to compile all of his information; including sound bites, videos, pictures, links, etc.. But I really did not follow if he was trying to tell me how to use it. He was more of boasting about everything he got to work on and what they got to incorporate, not really how to use it.
At the end of part 2 of the video I thought that everything Mr. Miller talked about was very cool. The part where he showed a document that was not made out of the alphabet but the web was very interesting. That it could do searches on its own and update itself and show you things like where the happiest city on the planet is just by searching blogs was awesome. I have no clue how I would integrate this into my classroom because a. I have no clue how to do that kind of creation and b. I wouldn't know where to learn that program , assuming we do not have it yet.
Being able to make documents out of video, links, pictures, and the web purely is an awesome thing to do. Mr. Miller was right in saying that the 'document' he ublished online that got 9,000 hits within a month would not have gotten nearly that many having it in print. I know that I prefer the video version he did!! It was intriguing seeing everything you could do and it not having do be just print. Another cool thing about his video was the virtual green building he created using that software!! Amazing! I hope that I get to learn some of these things before I graduate!
MRS. DREXLER'S NETWORKED STUDENT
WOW! We need to start seeing more classes like this throughout our schools (especially in our college)! Being a networkes student would provide you with not only the tools you would need to basically teach yourself the subject but it would also help people like me (wanting to become techers) to prepare to teach thir students like this. I feel like we basically do the same thing in our class now, except that we do not go out and find our own videos or podcasts ourselves (Dr. strange already has ours provided for us).
The only downside I see in Mrs. Drexler's plan to integrate this into her middle school class is motivating middle schoolers to actually want to go and do these kind of things on their own. I know that kids of that age are very difficult to deal with and I think she might run into some obstacles if the students need to take their work home and do it after school is over, when they could be on their facebooks or twitters. other than that this would be a great idea to start integrating into our classrooms. AGAIN, I am kind of jealous that these kids are learning these kind of things whenthey are in middle school and I am just now learnig it in college!
COMMENTS FOR KIDS WEEK 7
This week I got to coment on a kid named Maddy and her essay on How To Plant An Awesome Seed. Maddy did a great job on the essay and made it very clear what steps you needed to take to keep your plant alive.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
COMMENTS FOR TEACHERS
Here is the first post that I left for Tom Whitby on his blog: MY ISLAND VIEW; and my reflection on the last 2.
Tom,
My name is Meghan and I am a Junior at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. I am currently studying to be a high school science teacher, and in my Educational Media class I was assigned to follow your blog.
I liked how you compared public education to the industry business. They are very similar and probably did start out similarly to what you painted a picture of. I think that we could keep this idea of an ‘industry’ related education system if adopted to the new century like the industrial world has.
That would mean we need to adapt more technology into our classrooms, like today’s businesses have done.
Doing this would not only prepare our students for the outside world better, but it would also help them with the preparing for a job bit. Even though i would love for my students to just enjoy learning for learning sake, but the truth is most do not, and I plan to at least prepare the others as best I can.
Number 2: Lead Us Into Reform
At one point in this post about administration in the 34 years he had been teaching Mr. Whitby brought up this point:
That out of all the administrators he had worked under he had respect for: 2 out of the 8 Superintendents, 3 of the 9 promcipals, 2 of the 16 assistant principals, and 3 of the 10 Chairman members.
Wow, that seems to be a really bad statistic. He said the reason why he had respect for those he did, was because of their ability to understand and enable teachers on the staff to be successful. Maybe it was just the high school I went to, but from what I had heard from my teachers and from them since I have been studying to become one of them, all 4 Assistants and our principal were more than willing to help and encourage at any time. Maybe i have been delusional to think that all schools were one big happy family, and no matter where I went it would always be like that.
He also talked about the situation in Rhode Island where the faculty as a whole was fired due to not wanting to work longer hours and additional days without more pay. The reason for wanting this was because of the high dropout rate, and the superintendent thought that it would be a good idea if they were to just scrap them instead of trying to make things better with the faculty already in place. Mr. Whitby made an excellent point after this saying that why would the teaching methods work if they were to extend the hours and days if they hadn't been working in the first place?? Seems pretty obvious to me that they should have tried to improve the teaching methods first before chucking everyone.
ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM
This latin phrase sounds pretty cool, no? Well at the end of this post I will tell you what it truly means and you will laugh your pants off!! But for now, you need to hear the reason behind throwing latin out randomly. A professor was at a workshop that promoted integrating technology in the classrooms. At the end of the workshop the speaker called for questions, and said professor took to the mic and said roughly: that if anyone needed to get information to him they need not twitter, email, text, or message him. They should simply talk to him. He then stated 'It was good enough for him, its good enough for them." And then went on to state that what was the need for this tech stuff anyways? The worst part is yet to come......The audience applauded him!! What crazoes!!! These people are, as he put it, Ten-Percenters ad do not reflect the majority of the whole. But still, it said to think that these higher educators are so in the caveman ages that they can't let go of their ways and adopt new and better ones.
So in closing I will let you ini on the Latin phrase, if you haven't already googled what it means... Don't let the bastards grind you down!!
Tom,
My name is Meghan and I am a Junior at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. I am currently studying to be a high school science teacher, and in my Educational Media class I was assigned to follow your blog.
I liked how you compared public education to the industry business. They are very similar and probably did start out similarly to what you painted a picture of. I think that we could keep this idea of an ‘industry’ related education system if adopted to the new century like the industrial world has.
That would mean we need to adapt more technology into our classrooms, like today’s businesses have done.
Doing this would not only prepare our students for the outside world better, but it would also help them with the preparing for a job bit. Even though i would love for my students to just enjoy learning for learning sake, but the truth is most do not, and I plan to at least prepare the others as best I can.
Number 2: Lead Us Into Reform
At one point in this post about administration in the 34 years he had been teaching Mr. Whitby brought up this point:
That out of all the administrators he had worked under he had respect for: 2 out of the 8 Superintendents, 3 of the 9 promcipals, 2 of the 16 assistant principals, and 3 of the 10 Chairman members.
Wow, that seems to be a really bad statistic. He said the reason why he had respect for those he did, was because of their ability to understand and enable teachers on the staff to be successful. Maybe it was just the high school I went to, but from what I had heard from my teachers and from them since I have been studying to become one of them, all 4 Assistants and our principal were more than willing to help and encourage at any time. Maybe i have been delusional to think that all schools were one big happy family, and no matter where I went it would always be like that.
He also talked about the situation in Rhode Island where the faculty as a whole was fired due to not wanting to work longer hours and additional days without more pay. The reason for wanting this was because of the high dropout rate, and the superintendent thought that it would be a good idea if they were to just scrap them instead of trying to make things better with the faculty already in place. Mr. Whitby made an excellent point after this saying that why would the teaching methods work if they were to extend the hours and days if they hadn't been working in the first place?? Seems pretty obvious to me that they should have tried to improve the teaching methods first before chucking everyone.
ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM
This latin phrase sounds pretty cool, no? Well at the end of this post I will tell you what it truly means and you will laugh your pants off!! But for now, you need to hear the reason behind throwing latin out randomly. A professor was at a workshop that promoted integrating technology in the classrooms. At the end of the workshop the speaker called for questions, and said professor took to the mic and said roughly: that if anyone needed to get information to him they need not twitter, email, text, or message him. They should simply talk to him. He then stated 'It was good enough for him, its good enough for them." And then went on to state that what was the need for this tech stuff anyways? The worst part is yet to come......The audience applauded him!! What crazoes!!! These people are, as he put it, Ten-Percenters ad do not reflect the majority of the whole. But still, it said to think that these higher educators are so in the caveman ages that they can't let go of their ways and adopt new and better ones.
So in closing I will let you ini on the Latin phrase, if you haven't already googled what it means... Don't let the bastards grind you down!!
Friday, February 19, 2010
WEEK 6 ASSIGNMENTS
DR. ALICE CHRISTIE'S WEBSITE
One of the helpful items that I saw on Dr. Christie's website are the workshops that she offers in Arizona and the one that she gives in Montgomery once a year. It is one thing to hear or read about tecgnology and integrating it into your classromms. Its an entirely fifferent story if someone is actually giving examples and showing you how to do it yourself in person. These workshops would be a pretty cool thing to go to when I start teaching.
Another thing I have found interesting is the GPS and Geocaching podcast. Being a science teacher in training I think it would be pretty cool to do a geocache hunt with one of my classes. That way they would be able not only to be able to use technology in the form of a gps reciever, but they would also be learning outside the the classrom in a hands on environment.
iTunesU
The iTunesU system could actually be helpful in everyone's classroom. One cool thing that I found was a digital Preservation of the Library of Congress!! Wow, did not know that was even out there! Instead of having kids using unhelpful sites like wikipedia for research, you can have them go into their itunes (which pretty much all of them have) and be able to download college level lectures or speeches on the subject they are researching.
As a student myself, it could give me different views on the subjects I am taking from a professor on the other side of the country! there are literally tons of useful information on the itunesU store! I am definently glad that I know about this now.
One of the helpful items that I saw on Dr. Christie's website are the workshops that she offers in Arizona and the one that she gives in Montgomery once a year. It is one thing to hear or read about tecgnology and integrating it into your classromms. Its an entirely fifferent story if someone is actually giving examples and showing you how to do it yourself in person. These workshops would be a pretty cool thing to go to when I start teaching.
Another thing I have found interesting is the GPS and Geocaching podcast. Being a science teacher in training I think it would be pretty cool to do a geocache hunt with one of my classes. That way they would be able not only to be able to use technology in the form of a gps reciever, but they would also be learning outside the the classrom in a hands on environment.
iTunesU
The iTunesU system could actually be helpful in everyone's classroom. One cool thing that I found was a digital Preservation of the Library of Congress!! Wow, did not know that was even out there! Instead of having kids using unhelpful sites like wikipedia for research, you can have them go into their itunes (which pretty much all of them have) and be able to download college level lectures or speeches on the subject they are researching.
As a student myself, it could give me different views on the subjects I am taking from a professor on the other side of the country! there are literally tons of useful information on the itunesU store! I am definently glad that I know about this now.
Comments 4 Kids
I have now left three different comments 4 kids comments. My most recent kid to comment for was James. He did a sort animation about making pancakes, with a voice layover for verbal instructions. It was so cool to see a little kid do these things as early as he is.
I have also commented on 2 other kids previously. One was on a class doinf research on recyling and pollution in the ocean, and the other was on guys doing the Mac vs PC debate with new twists on the views.
I have also commented on 2 other kids previously. One was on a class doinf research on recyling and pollution in the ocean, and the other was on guys doing the Mac vs PC debate with new twists on the views.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENTS
WIRED STORY
After reading all of this material about the Wikipedia tracer, I think that it is pretty cool that someone came up with this idea. I have never been a real big fan of Wikipedia ever since I found out that anyone and everyone could edit it if they wanted to. That alone, to me, made it an unreiabe resource to use. Now that I have read more into these tracer stories it lowers it on my list even more!! These companies and public figureheads going on the sight and changing things makes me mad. It defeats the purpose of having an online encyclopedia if someone can change waht it says about them if they don't like it. I would like to see if any scandals come out of this wikitracer though!! I love drama in the political and business worlds!
WHAT I'VE LEARNED THIS YEAR
Mr. McClung's essay on his expeirences during his first year really spoke to me. He is right when daying that we as teachers (or teachers to be) can forget who we are teaching to...KIDS! I hope that I can remeber that when I start teaching. I also like his point on not being afraid of technology, and that we aren't going to be perfect with it the first time we use it, but we have to keep on trying and hope that we get better at it.
I think that this is a big part of our class in EDM. I know that I personally neverthouht of using a lot of technology in my class because I myself had not had it in my classes. So i wasn't very familiar with the idea of branching out like that. I know I'm still not that comfortable with it now, but I am warming up to it the more practiced I get with my comuter and some of the programs we are now dealing with. Let's just see where I go from here...
After reading all of this material about the Wikipedia tracer, I think that it is pretty cool that someone came up with this idea. I have never been a real big fan of Wikipedia ever since I found out that anyone and everyone could edit it if they wanted to. That alone, to me, made it an unreiabe resource to use. Now that I have read more into these tracer stories it lowers it on my list even more!! These companies and public figureheads going on the sight and changing things makes me mad. It defeats the purpose of having an online encyclopedia if someone can change waht it says about them if they don't like it. I would like to see if any scandals come out of this wikitracer though!! I love drama in the political and business worlds!
WHAT I'VE LEARNED THIS YEAR
Mr. McClung's essay on his expeirences during his first year really spoke to me. He is right when daying that we as teachers (or teachers to be) can forget who we are teaching to...KIDS! I hope that I can remeber that when I start teaching. I also like his point on not being afraid of technology, and that we aren't going to be perfect with it the first time we use it, but we have to keep on trying and hope that we get better at it.
I think that this is a big part of our class in EDM. I know that I personally neverthouht of using a lot of technology in my class because I myself had not had it in my classes. So i wasn't very familiar with the idea of branching out like that. I know I'm still not that comfortable with it now, but I am warming up to it the more practiced I get with my comuter and some of the programs we are now dealing with. Let's just see where I go from here...
Sunday, February 7, 2010
WEEK 4 ASSIGNMENTS
THE EDUCATIONAL PODCASTING NETWORK
One of the biggest attributes to this podcast is that it isn't just one person posting podcasts on here, there are many peopple contributing. Not only is it good because it gives you more than one opinion on a subject, it can also give you a new or different way to showcase a subject to your students. They also have a list to the side of the screen that gives you differnt subjects to choose from, that way you can listen to those podcasts specific to your subject. Being a science teacher in the making I chose to go to the science section.
In this list I found a few casts that i particuarly enjoyed. "This Week in Science" happens to be a radio show that shows an interesting view on that week's hot spots in Science. Another one that I enjoyed was "Geek Counterpoint". This cast showed news in a humorous manner that basically translated "geek talk" into everyday english for those not learned in geek. I think these podcasts can help me alot in the future with getting my classes more iterested in my subject; and could be a different view, and hopefully, more interesting wayto keep them informed about the science world.
One of the biggest attributes to this podcast is that it isn't just one person posting podcasts on here, there are many peopple contributing. Not only is it good because it gives you more than one opinion on a subject, it can also give you a new or different way to showcase a subject to your students. They also have a list to the side of the screen that gives you differnt subjects to choose from, that way you can listen to those podcasts specific to your subject. Being a science teacher in the making I chose to go to the science section.
In this list I found a few casts that i particuarly enjoyed. "This Week in Science" happens to be a radio show that shows an interesting view on that week's hot spots in Science. Another one that I enjoyed was "Geek Counterpoint". This cast showed news in a humorous manner that basically translated "geek talk" into everyday english for those not learned in geek. I think these podcasts can help me alot in the future with getting my classes more iterested in my subject; and could be a different view, and hopefully, more interesting wayto keep them informed about the science world.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENTS
My i tunes happen to be messing up a lot right now so I have not been able to do my comments on the podcast. Hopefully, I will have everything fixed by tonight! Sorry for taking so long to get this up!!
MEDIA LITERACY IN FIRST GRADE
WOW!! I think that it is pretty amazing that these first graders are doing some of the same things that I am doing right now in college! They are a very lucky class because the most I was doing on a computer in the first grade was playing solitare or painting something in the Paint program. I can't wait to have these kids in my class because normally kids who are interested in computers tend to be drawn to science too!! They are also really lucky because each of these kids have their own laptops to use in class. When I was in the first grade we only had one computer to share between 30 kids. So if every school could get to this level of technology per classroom that would be great. The video of the one year old using the i phone is very interesting. I have seen kids use the i phone at an early age but never this early. It will be interesting to see how much these kids will be able to achieve when they get older.
MEDIA LITERACY IN FIRST GRADE
WOW!! I think that it is pretty amazing that these first graders are doing some of the same things that I am doing right now in college! They are a very lucky class because the most I was doing on a computer in the first grade was playing solitare or painting something in the Paint program. I can't wait to have these kids in my class because normally kids who are interested in computers tend to be drawn to science too!! They are also really lucky because each of these kids have their own laptops to use in class. When I was in the first grade we only had one computer to share between 30 kids. So if every school could get to this level of technology per classroom that would be great. The video of the one year old using the i phone is very interesting. I have seen kids use the i phone at an early age but never this early. It will be interesting to see how much these kids will be able to achieve when they get older.
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