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.
Friday, January 22, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
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.
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.
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