What a great class. I had so much fun and learned so much. This class helped provide tools and techniques that i will definitely use as a future teacher. As a high school science or history teacher, i will need to teach with passion, accuracy, and intelligence. All of these characteristics can be acquired and sharpened just by taking this class. After completion of this class, i will be at the top of my game to start off as a new, technologically literate teacher. With to
tools like google, blogging, digital media, and my PLN by my side, teaching will be more like a hobby than a job.
I can honestly say that this class took my expectations and threw them out the window.When i heard that i had to take this class, i just knew that it would be boring and tedious work involving spreed sheets, and word documents. However, as we got into the first couple weeks of class, i knew that would not be the case. After that, i really was excited to come to class. I looked forward to every day with Mr. Sullivan. He took his lecture and went in whatever direction the students wanted to know. We did actually get a lot of work done, but you would have never known it, what with all the fun we were having.
The funny thing is that nothing in the class was actually hard. Mr. Sullivan took his time and gave individual attention when needed. The only thing i didn't like was the somewhat repetitive and increasingly unoriginal blog topics. It seemed like we blogged about why teachers should be be tech literate for a whole month an a half. I would have liked to see more versatility and personalization in the blogs. Other than that the class was great. The most important thing that i learned in class was that i should always keep leaning.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Classroom Rules of the Future
As of now, things like cell phones and computers aren't allowed in most classrooms. I believe that on day this will change. Student are being given more and more freedom when it comes to their use of their technology. But as the barriers are lifted, we must figure out, is this a good thing or a bad thing? Kids will be kids. The students of tomorrow are still students. They will still play around, just in a different way. Imagine how people from Star Trek or something goof off, it'll probably be around twenty times worse than that. So according to Dr. Strange, some rules will have to change to fit this lifestyle.
One thing i liked that he said was, " Come to class on time, or log into your online class anytime day or night, whenever it is most convenient to you." This would be great for me, I hate having a schedule. I really do. I guess i consider myself to be spontaneous, i don't know. I t just always bothered me to have to get up and go to school everyday at the same time and do the same old same old. But we all gotta make a living and for mostly everyone, that means having to keep a pretty tight weekly time sheet. But wouldn't it be awesome to just have the whole day to just get things done if you needed to? Then you could just get whatever you needed for class when it was most convenient for you.
Another ideal of Strange's that raised an eyebrow for me was this. "Talk only when permitted, text at all other times." For me, this would lead to some problems. I'm fine with texting for small conversations and such, but i feel that today's society is being consumed by this texting phase. I am a bigger fan of video conversing, which i believe will become bigger as time goes on. It's just more personal and i like that. And also, texting can be so vague. Have you ever gotten directions from someone who was strictly a "texter"? It's ridiculous! They will get you lost faster than a dyslexic cab driver!
Dr. Strange also made a reference to sharing. I just wanted to add that i think that this is what the online teaching experience is all about. Coming up with new ideas and being able to share them and better everyone's experience by doing so. This is where the Internet made it's name.
One thing i liked that he said was, " Come to class on time, or log into your online class anytime day or night, whenever it is most convenient to you." This would be great for me, I hate having a schedule. I really do. I guess i consider myself to be spontaneous, i don't know. I t just always bothered me to have to get up and go to school everyday at the same time and do the same old same old. But we all gotta make a living and for mostly everyone, that means having to keep a pretty tight weekly time sheet. But wouldn't it be awesome to just have the whole day to just get things done if you needed to? Then you could just get whatever you needed for class when it was most convenient for you.
Another ideal of Strange's that raised an eyebrow for me was this. "Talk only when permitted, text at all other times." For me, this would lead to some problems. I'm fine with texting for small conversations and such, but i feel that today's society is being consumed by this texting phase. I am a bigger fan of video conversing, which i believe will become bigger as time goes on. It's just more personal and i like that. And also, texting can be so vague. Have you ever gotten directions from someone who was strictly a "texter"? It's ridiculous! They will get you lost faster than a dyslexic cab driver!
Dr. Strange also made a reference to sharing. I just wanted to add that i think that this is what the online teaching experience is all about. Coming up with new ideas and being able to share them and better everyone's experience by doing so. This is where the Internet made it's name.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
It's Okay, Sometimes We All Do Stupid Things
True Dat! There are some "stupid" teachers out there. I have had plenty of them. Mabey they were not actually stupid, just ignorant. Which, according to Mr. Johnson here, is underlying stage of stupidity. People in general are stupid, we all do stupid things. Just today, as opposed to studying for a quiz in my EDF class, i opted to play some Call of Duty on Xbox. For those of you who don't know what this is, it's a small fraction of the material that is rotting today's members of society's brain. But it's a good way to procrastinate, so i just let it feed my stupidity. Also, Facebook, or shall I say "Procrastabook" enough said.
So anyways, besides our inevitable desire to find things that aren't productive to occupy our time. Some people luck up and get a good idea that they can link to what students find fascinating. Kids, and adults alike, love computers. An not just computers. Any student in today's society has some liking towards some type of technology. You just have to find a way to make that connection and use it to relay the information that you are trying to teach. I'll go back to the video game example. I like playing Xbox, so do millions of other students out there. So what teachers could try to do is use this as a medium to get students involved. There are games out there that mimic real world, historic, scientific, and other educational material. I have played a game where you play as a civil war character, or play some other role in history
This is just an example. But basically, what teachers need to do is learn from what stupid mistakes they have made. However, sometimes, the things they think are stupid could provide a learning tool for yourself or for the class you are teaching that no one would have ever used. Be creative and innovative
So anyways, besides our inevitable desire to find things that aren't productive to occupy our time. Some people luck up and get a good idea that they can link to what students find fascinating. Kids, and adults alike, love computers. An not just computers. Any student in today's society has some liking towards some type of technology. You just have to find a way to make that connection and use it to relay the information that you are trying to teach. I'll go back to the video game example. I like playing Xbox, so do millions of other students out there. So what teachers could try to do is use this as a medium to get students involved. There are games out there that mimic real world, historic, scientific, and other educational material. I have played a game where you play as a civil war character, or play some other role in history
This is just an example. But basically, what teachers need to do is learn from what stupid mistakes they have made. However, sometimes, the things they think are stupid could provide a learning tool for yourself or for the class you are teaching that no one would have ever used. Be creative and innovative
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
This blog is basically just revoicing everything we've learned this semester. However i think it is nice to know that there are teachers out there who are very liberal in the attempt to technologically advance our education system, which is, as of now, behind. Personally, i am a big fan of the video. Maybe that is just because i am lazy, but i think that a lot of kids that are considered to be unreachable these days are lazy too. I think video will be a very significant part of the equation to make the transition to being a more technology based school system.
I am a big fan of facebook, and think that perhaps, if students wern't so consumed with their own facebook, that it could be used as a great tool in education. If not for students, definitely for teachers, and building their PLN. I also enjoyed the pictures and other eye candy that made me want to read more about them. At first, i was simply scanning over the page and watching a few random videos. But then, as i began to see the pictures, i found myself wanting to read more about them. Blogs such as these should be a reference for teachers and schools wanting to become more technologically savvy.
I am a big fan of facebook, and think that perhaps, if students wern't so consumed with their own facebook, that it could be used as a great tool in education. If not for students, definitely for teachers, and building their PLN. I also enjoyed the pictures and other eye candy that made me want to read more about them. At first, i was simply scanning over the page and watching a few random videos. But then, as i began to see the pictures, i found myself wanting to read more about them. Blogs such as these should be a reference for teachers and schools wanting to become more technologically savvy.
WHATEVER ! It Takes
Wow this video really brought me some insight for what youtube really could be. Before this, i thought of youtube as a place for stupid people craving attention doing stupid thigns to get it. And it is, the vast majority of youtube is aimed to things that don't seem relevant to anything. But they are. Mabey not in most people's perspective, but someone took the time to make a video aimed at one particular subject that they felt needed to be addressed. The subject of course may have been something humorous. That person may have just wanted to make people laugh. The subjuct oculd have been attempting to get an idea out, like the "one world" video. (which i am now a big fan of) or The video could have been somewhat of a confessional, where that person just needed to talk to someone, in hopes that that person would be online.
Youtube, and other networking tools, are changing the way we conversate. Language as a whole is changing right in front of our eyes! The question is, is it a bad thing or good? Is Talking to a camera stupid or is it broadening our horions? Who knows. Only time and technology will tell.
Youtube, and other networking tools, are changing the way we conversate. Language as a whole is changing right in front of our eyes! The question is, is it a bad thing or good? Is Talking to a camera stupid or is it broadening our horions? Who knows. Only time and technology will tell.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Posting Assignments Help Students In A Number Of Ways
Students posting blogs and other electronically submitted assignments will be a very helpful and useful tool in the years to come. This is true for a number of reason. Take for example, this music class. Art and Music classes will benefit largely from the advancement of online assignments due to the multimedia that is used in this process. For the struggling arts section of today's school system, this will be great news.
Submitting assignments will not only be helpful to the students studying the arts. Teachers of any subject will benefit tremendously from assigning projects in this manner. Ther will no longer be a need to spend all your time keeping track of papers. Teachers can simply save as many copies as they would like to their hard drive or storage device.Organizing will be much easier being a teacher from the loss of all the hassle and expenses of paper and ink.
In most of my classes at south i have encountered Internet enhanced classes. Personally i find that these classes require more awareness of thing such as due dates, but are beneficial to both students and teachers. Students simply have to know when and what is due. If they miss the due date, the submission date and time are displayed with the assignment. No help to the student there, but there are plenty of benefits. Students can access help tutorials and use the Internet to help find the answer they are looking for. Students can also keep records if they would like.
Submitting assignments will not only be helpful to the students studying the arts. Teachers of any subject will benefit tremendously from assigning projects in this manner. Ther will no longer be a need to spend all your time keeping track of papers. Teachers can simply save as many copies as they would like to their hard drive or storage device.Organizing will be much easier being a teacher from the loss of all the hassle and expenses of paper and ink.
In most of my classes at south i have encountered Internet enhanced classes. Personally i find that these classes require more awareness of thing such as due dates, but are beneficial to both students and teachers. Students simply have to know when and what is due. If they miss the due date, the submission date and time are displayed with the assignment. No help to the student there, but there are plenty of benefits. Students can access help tutorials and use the Internet to help find the answer they are looking for. Students can also keep records if they would like.
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