What I've Learned This Year by Mr McClung

This was an excellent essay on first year teaching. It gives me insight on what my first year will be like. I know that school can only prepare me for so much. But most of my learning will come from hand on experience, in my own classroom alone with my students. I am sure I will have the same experiences as Mr.McClung.

Be Flexible and always ready for change. I know that nothing is perfect. And things will not always go my away. I will want to follow my lessons plan daily but I know that sometimes things don't always go as we plan. Therefore, flexibility will be a part of my classroom.

Communication is key to everything we do in life. Communication with students and coworkers will be very important. There should always be an open line of communication in workplace. Being in the classroom communication will be displayed daily with students. They should always feel comfortable with you as a teachers. To resolve issues any of sort, communication is the key.

As teachers we should always be reasonable. We should always want the best from our students but sometimes we tend to forget that they are kids. We must remember when we were in school and how did we handle certain situations. No one is perfect. Not even me.

Technology is key in today's world. Always stay one step ahead of kids. It's constantly changing everyday. Never be afraid to learn something new. Because kids will always now what the next hot tech gadget. The are born with technology on the born. We just need to stay ahead of them at all times. No matter how challenging it may be.

Listen is very important skill. We expect kids to listen to everything we say. But we should also listen them. They have a voice also. Sometimes kids teach adults something. Always be willing to listen.

Never stop learning. We as future educators are responsible for teaching kids. We want them to learn daily. But what about us. Learning does not stop after school. If you ask me it begins when we exit those doors.

Wickipedia

I can honestly say that I use Wikipedia for information. But now I will think twice about the source of my information. I believed that the information given by Wikipedia was accurate. This article has taught never too use them as a reference for anything.

The scanner device was an excellent tool to trace erroneous information back to the source. This will certainly stop information from falsely being reported. That just goes to show that not all resoruces are realiable. Use multiple sources such as books, newspapers, magazines. But technology have made that nearly impossible for this new tech generation. Research is only as good as the source if you ask me.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

I really enjoyed watching video. Dr. Pausch showed great dedication and passion for everything he did in life He never lost his childlike spirit even when facing a terminal illness. He set goals in life and in weird way was able to satisfy each one of those goals. His challenges became brick walls that he did not allow to defeat him. "Brick wall were there to stop people who don't want it badly enough." Dr. Pausch went through all of his brick wall with success.


Dr. Pausch discuss enabling the childhood dreams. This is an important lesson, I think as an future educator my job will be to enable the dreams of my students. I would encourage them that their dreams are obtainable. Dreams allow us to think the unimaginable and to go where no man has gone before. They can determine our outcome in life. As kids, we all have dreamed of one day becoming the greatest football player, dancer, teacher, or actor. We should never stop dreaming of becoming the best at we do. My job will be to nurture the dreams of my students. Let them explore and grow. Dream the unthinkable, look past of what is in front of you. Make your dreams become a reality.

The head fake technique was an excellent learning tool. It allows the students to have fun while learning. The student are engaging in fun activity but at the same time learning something that's difficult. They are being psych into learning. The students are being provided with hands on experience. Pausch said "Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you want." The students are gaining valuable experience with a twist. The are completely unaware of the learning experience. This should be applied to all subjects in school.

Randy Pausch says never to give up. He certainly never gave up on life. He keep going until the very end. Students should never give up no matter what the circumstances. As a future educator, I want my students to always give their best. Never let the brick wall stand in the your way. It should be viewed as motivation. Find ways to go around it or go through it. Dr. Pausch say "don't complain just work harder." Hard work always pays off in the end.

Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

No, it is not okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher. According to Fisch, "All educators must achieve a basic level of technologically capability." Teacher should at least know how turn on a computer, and operate the world wide web. But it still amazes me many people are still computer illiterate. Technology surrounds us every where, from the grocery store to the local library.

I feel that teachers should be able to operate the technology that's in the classroom. They should be smarter than the average fifth grader. Kids today can create things on a computer that I just ask myself "How did you do that?" Please do not ask me about Myspace. Does that mean I am technologically illiterate? I have mastered Facebook though.

As future educators we should never stop learning. We need to stay twenty steps ahead of our kids in the classroom. Education is important on all levels from science to math. Teachers should feel the same about technology. Its becoming a powerful tool in today's society. It surrounds us everyday. They have drink machine that take debit cards these days. What ever happen to change. Its no escaping this tech thing. We will either learn as it grows or get left behind.

"It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines

I agree with Ms. Hines that is takes an effective teaher thats willing to continue to learn in order to be effecctive in the classroom. Technology is just a tool that can be used to enhance the learning atmosphere. The ipod, wiki, and blogs should be viewed as an addition to the education process. It is not the total process. Teachers should be trained to incorporate these technology advancement into their lessons not as a substitue for teaching but as an ongoing process for education their class on successful uses of technology as part of their education experience

Technology has made several transition throughout the years.I suspect as the 21st century continues from year to year there are more developments being made that will become part of the education process. It will forever be changing. Yesterday advancement will be oboselte as I type.

Students should be expose to technology in classroom as a part of their learing experience. It should not viewed as a tool for only surfing the web or playing games but as a tool to expand on their educational advancement. Technology can be used in every dimension of the classroom. The teacher can incorporate technology in every subject. It can used an interactive tool to allow the kids to become involve in their learning process. Technology should never be viewed as a substitue for effective teaching but as an addition to a process that is forever changing.

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today

This video did a great job capturing today's student. Today's college student use technology everyday. They are texting, emailing, or surfing the web. Their cell phones are on the desk and constantly being checked for the missed call or that next text message. The labtop are use to stay connected to facebook.

I have purchased books that were never used or referenced to in class. I have to admitt I will spend more time emailing and texting than preparing for class. Facebook is my material of choice as of now. I find it to be more informative than any textbook I have ever purchased for a hundred dollars or more.

I have being in class to have the person next to me only show up for the exam. I could never understand the reason for that. But I susppose it works for some not all. I would like to know what's the secret.

The student debt I can totally sympatize. I sometimes wonder will I die before this debt is paid off. I really don't want to know the answer that.

I would like to know how many are part of fraternity or sorority. It could provide the number of drinks that a college student consumes a week. The number of hours that an average college student spends partying. I would like to know how many have gotten spending tickets and DUI tickets. What's the number of students that drive while texting.

Next Generation Learning

The delivery of this video was great. The 6th grader was right I never had a computer in my classroom. The are equipped with so much technology. They have interactive chalk board, that acts as a computer. That was a neat tool to be used in the classroom. The classes also have digital camera that kids use to do produce project. I can have imagined in the sixth grade producing a project using a digital camera.
I really liked the technology that helps kids participate in the classroom without actually being called on. I was that shy kid that sat in the back class and prayed that the teacher never called my name. With this technology even the shyest kid can participate in group discussing and give answer to questions.
The downloading and uploading of homework was neat. I forgot to do it or the dog it, can no longer be use in the classroom. Even if a child is out sick, they are able to keep up with all of their assignments from home. And its easier to grade for the teacher.
I believe that all schools should make technology their number one priority. Technology is changing the lives of kids. Its making them want to learn. They are playing the Wii. The Wii trains their brain to think and it also provides a workout for their body. They are getting a two for one deal.

Podcast

The site that I visited was http://langwitches.org/blog/podcasting/ Podcasting with 3rd graders. They did an excellent job with their podcasts. The included sound effects that to go along with their subject. They research the endangered species of Florida. The kids provided facts as to why certain species were endangered and whats the animal natural habitat. The gave details about what to food the animals and how we can prevent certain species for becoming extinct. These kids were very upbeat in delivering their message. They really got my attention. These 3rd grader really did their research.

I learned to be informative and state the facts. I also learned that including sound effects and getting the audience attention was very important. Speaking clear and communicating effectively is a big part of these podcast. The audio should also be free of any distraction. The clearer the audio the better

Tech Literature Teacher

They seem to be unprepared for the conservation. They stated mainly their opinions. It is clear that no research was done prior to doing the video podcast. It not a very informative videocast. It just seems to be a lot of general conservation. I would like to prepared for my topic, therefore research will have to done before discussing any particular issue.

The background was a distraction. The scened should have being set up with some technology. They could have provided some examples as a demonstration. That would have made for an interesting discussing.

Picture Modifying

Podcast

What is a podcast? That's what I need to ask myself. This is honestly my first time becoming aware of the many podcast. I am still confused about the whole podcast. It appears to be just radio announcer discussing technology I am totally unaware of.

The Smart Board Lesson "Year End Ideas for Classrooms and Schools " was two people discussing their daily lives. Its took them about nine minutes to discuss what they were pod casting. The audio in the beginning was not good. It took several minutes before it was adjusted. This podcast left me confused. Their concept was not relayed in the first couple minutes.

KidCast "Pod casting in the Classroom" was the most professional of all the podcast. This podcast was setup as a mini conference. Dan discussed the different microphone the unidirectional microphone and omini microphone. He also discussed how podcast can be used as an educational tool in the classroom. I learned that Web 2.0 has allowed us all to become producers via the web by blogging, flicker, facebook, pictures and bandwidth to support sound.

Connect Learning Podcast "Academic Aesthetic was very short. The pod caster just blogged about things he felt was important. He talked about going out of town, being at his father in law house, and a science fiction book. Ed Techtalk was very clear. It went into detail about google doc. Google docs has templates that have been requested by a lot of user, just not by me. The templates can be shared with the entire world or just within the school. The hidden templates has resume and lesson plans. Mac Break Weekly was two people that were intrigue with Macintosh and all it had to offer. They discussed skype, myfi, and twitter. I can barely keep up with all this technology. The last podcast This Week in Photography was a discussing about a camera. Just when I thought it could not get any better.

I have come to the conclusion that a podcast can be about anything you want to talk about. I am sure if you think it you can certainly podcast about it. This technology will be a great tool in the classroom. The kids can podcast about their lessons and teach others. This will truly be an educational tool that I would like to incorporate in my classroom one day.

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Vicki Davis: Harness Your Student's Digital Smarts

Vicki Davis made the statement that she is learning from the students. The way that technology is advancing everyday, I feel that I am learning from my son. Students today learn through technology. Its great to see how a rural school could visit a middle eastern country using technology. The students are sharing their knowledge with schools in other states as well as around the world. They are not only learning but they are teaching each other. They are incorporation group skills. These skills are proven to be valuable in the work place.
Schools has really changed from ten years ago. There were no such thing as blogs and virtual tours in the classroom. The students have so much information at the touch of a button. The world is at their fingertips. They can literally visited another country with just one click. Technology is truly changing the world as we know it.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

Sir Ken Robinson says that everybody is born with creativity, and the creativity diminishes with education. There are more kids today than ever being placed on medication for ADHD. They have being diagnosed by doctors as being over active or maybe their just over creative. The creativity of kids is not being nurtured in the education system. We are losing talented kids but we refuse to change the way we teach. The funding is lacking for the arts and their is no time in the class room for anything other than math and language. There are no room for mistakes. The kids are taught to pay attention, sit down, and be quiet. The class clown , the dancer, the singer, the artist can we honestly expect them to sit down, be quiet, and pay attention for eight hours.
Just like the dancer that was mention in the video, these kids are unable to sit still for an entire day. They learn different than most students. There creativity is there math and language arts.

Did You Know

Technology is changing everyday, so much that video "Did You Know" is know obsolete.Technology has changed the way people communicate all over the world. My Space has became the 5th largest country in cyberspace. The number of text messages sent daily exceeds the total population. According to "Did You Know"by 2013 there will a computer that exceeds the computational capabilities of the the human species. India would be the only country to out think a computer considering they have 394 babies born per day and the have more honor students than America. The music industry has suffered from the ever changing technology with 694,000 songs download illegally who pays for CDS anymore.
Google has definitely changed the way kids learn. I remember going to the library to actually look up books from the catalog, but with today's technology you just google everything. I am positive that the library exist, I just have not visited one in a long time. This generation communicate everything in text lingo. I am pretty sure that the English language will be adding LOL,OMG,TMI, and other text lingo to English dictionary. As long as technology keeps growing, I will never stop learning.

Hello,

My name is Timeka Holloway. I was born and raised in Mobile, Alabama. I have a thirteen year son that is enrolled at Scrabough Middle School. I attended John L. LeFlore High School home to the rattlers. I am currently seeking my second degree in Elementary Education. I received my first degree in accounting, but after years of working decided I did not want to continue in that field. I have a passion for kids. My mom currently operates an in home daycare which I provide assistance. I am learning that kids are like sponges they observe everything around them. They are great learners. I enjoy watching them grow and explore the world around them.

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