Additional Assignment #3

Sir Ken Robinson "Changing Educational Paradigms"
This particular video by Mr. Robinson discusses a topic which is very much being debated as it relates to reforming education. The most important thing that I feel was discussed in this video is the idea of educating our children for today's world while not letting them lose their sense of cultural identity. Personally, I am a traditionalist and believe that our past cultures should be preserved. I also believe that it is equally important for students today to be prepared for this changing world or economy of which Mr. Robinson speaks. So, how do we merge these two principles together? In my opinion, I think it's quite simple. This process of understanding begins at home. As parents, we should explain to our children our upbringing and the challenges that we faced during those times. We should help them to understand where we come from and teach them to appreciate where we are today. What we must do is to educate them on how to hold on to the good values that we learned from our culture growing up while at the same time encouraging them to let go of those values which were not good ones. Once we get our children to understand this concept, we should then encourage them to embrace the changes of our world today. I feel that the key to success in merging these two principles is to have a great understanding of how to balance the way which we expose these two principles to our children. In other words, don't overexpose one of the principles and underexpose the other. If I had to do a presentation similar to this, I would probably have a role other that the ones listed on the class blog page.

Blog Post #10

Morgan Bayda
I really enjoyed reading this post by Mrs. Bayda. In my opinion, her post seems to offer some insight from her perspective on distance learning vs having a teacher in the classroom. Within today's educational system, the debate continues as to whether or not it is better to have a teacher present in the classroom. In thinking about this particular debate, I have two opinions. First, I feel that distance learning promotes a learning environment in which students will be able to become self motivated learners. Without anyone present to hold your hand per say, it forces one to be independent in terms of learning. Secondly, while I feel that distant learning can be great, I feel that a teacher in the classroom works better in terms of helping one to reach their learning potential. The key however is to make sure that there is sufficient collaboration going on among the students as well as the teacher. I can relate to the feeling of frustration when you know that you will have to sit and listen to a two hour lecture. In this instance, learning is not fun and it would be challenging for me to even stay awake, let alone learn something. The video that Mrs. Bayda posted by Mr. Brown really gives one something to think about. In one sense, it makes you wonder how one could ever maximize their learning potential by dropping out of any institution of higher learning. On the other hand, it makes perfect sense because if your learning environment is not one that you enjoy being in, then little to no learning will take place because there would be a lack of motivation.

Tom Johnson's Don't Let Them Take Pencils Home
Very interesting post. In this this particular post, it sheds some light on what I feel is one of the main problems in today's educational system. As educators, we too often get caught up in what our students standardized test scores are like rather than if they are actually learning. This post reminds me of a referendum that was tried to be put into place in the state of Florida where teachers pay would be based on their students' scores on standardized tests. Now let me ask you this question: If you were told that your pay would be based on what your students did on a standardized test, would you be more interested in whether or not your students actually learned anything, or if they could pass that particular test? Hum, I'll let you think about that one for a second!

Two Questions That Can Change Your Life
This is a very interesting video. Throughout one's life, I would imagine that we always spend a lot of time reflecting about the numerous times that we have been fortunate or unfortunate enough to live through. This video asks one particular question that I often ask myself, which is whether or not I am better today than I was yesterday. With each passing day, I personally make an attempt to be a better person in every aspect of my life whether it be personally or professionally. It is my belief that if you are willing to listen and learn from others as well as be willing to apply some of those things in your life, then you can be better today than you were yesterday. Of course, the things that we attempt to learn from every day, we should do it with caution because every lesson that one learn is not a good one. After having giving this much thought, my sentence would be "he made a difference in someone's life".

My Smartboard Presentation

Skype Interview with Lisa Taylor

Wade's Short Movie

Blog Post #9

"What I've Learned This Year" by Mr. McClung
The first comment that I would like to make in response to Mr. McClung's post is that I totally agree with him. During my first experience in the classroom, I can recall having those it's about me feelings that he talked about in the article. My biggest fear as a new teacher was how would my administration perceive me as an instructor, mainly whether or not I was sticking to teaching the curriculum according to the state department recommendations. I also had to learn that if I just simply asked my students questions and listen to their responses, it told me a lot on how to proceed with my lessons. I can say however, that from the first day that I set foot in the classroom, I did not get upset with the students when they did not meet my expectations of what I felt was adequate, but rather picked them up and let them know that I had faith in their abilities. Mr. McClung also talked about communication. My thought on that is that within any school communication is vital to that school's success because at the end of the day, it's about the students and not the teachers and their egos. Finally, Mr. McClung talked about always being willing to learn and continue to grow. As educators, we should never be satisfied with where we are because there is always room for improvement.

Blog Post #8

This is How We Dream by Richard Miller
This particular video by Mr. Miller is one that made me think about my educational experiences growing up. When I was in Jr. High School, I can remember going to the school library and looking for books using the Dewey Decimal System. During those particular times in my life, if you wanted to find a certain book, you had to use an index card system that told you exactly where the print based materials could be found. Fast forward to today, you can now simply search for whatever print material that you want using a computer. I can also remember looking for certain print materials back then that I could not find simply because the information was deemed to be outdated, so it was tossed out. This particular story that I just told brings me to one point that really stood out to me in Mr. Miller video which is the fact that with the use of the internet and todays technology, no information will become outdated. Any information that is available today is infinite information because with the use of the web we can constantly share or collaborate anything that is available. Mr. Miller also talked about fundamental changes vs. incremental changes. When I thought about this particular point that he made, I compared it to using a navigational system in a car. Whenever you are going on a trip and you put in your destination, the navigational system gives you about three routes which you can take to arrive at your destination. Even though the route that you choose to use may be different from the other two, if someone else took the other two routes, they would arrive at the same place. Finally, Mr. Miller did get me to thinking when he talked about someone inventing a system in which all people can have access to different ways of getting print materials in the future. I think the challenge there will be how to make it affordable for everyone to have access to it.

EDM 310 is Different
In watching the two videos; The Chipper Series and EDM 310 for Dummies, I had to compose myself because because I nearly died from laughing at the humor in them. I would have to say that these two videos which were produced by our own students were well thought out. The Chipper Series talked about the slacker who was always looking for an easy way out. Chipper in this video always had a full proof plan on how she was going to be successful without actually putting in any work to achieve that success. In EDM 310 for Dummies, I can't speak for others, but I have definately had those feelings that were depicted in this particular video at one time or another. I can honestly say that EDM 310 is different from any class that I have ever taken. The point that I feel these two videos were making is that you must be willing to put in the time and effort to be successful even when you get frustrated or discouraged.

Critiques of Smartboards

There were two articles that we had to review for this particular assignment. The first is by Michael Staton and is titled "Why Smartboards Are a Dumb Initiative", and the second is titled "Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards" by Bill Ferriter. Both articles seems to be saying the same thing which is the fact that Smartboards are only expensive pieces of equipment in the classroom that is a waste of money. In looking at this topic further, I found two post that disagreed with these two gentlemen prospective on the use of smartboards. The first is by a 3rd year math teacher in Ohio whose link is bdiehl001. Mr. Diehl made two arguments against the article by Mr. Staton. First, he argued that smartboards allows you to save all your work and allows you to be able to print them off to your students who were absent. Secondly, he argued that it keeps the students engaged in the lesson. In the article posted by Mr. Ferriter, Patrick Ledesma who is a School Based Technology Specialist for the Fairfax County Public Schools made an argument that I totally agree with. He argued that smartboards can be a great tool to use. The key is that the instructor who will be using it must be willing to gain knowledge on all of the advantages that the smartboards have to offer. Mr. Ledesma page can be view at www.edtechbytes.com. Just this week, I was having a conversation with a local Middle School Principal about the use of smartboards in the classroom. The thing that he said that really stood out to me is the fact that when used properly, smartboards allow for the students to be interactive within the classroom. It has been eight years since I was last teaching in the classroom, so I have never used a smartboard. I do realize however that when I am fortunate enough to return to classroom, it would be beneficial for me to learn all that I can about the many uses of smartboards before I return to the classroom.

timeline

Additional Assignment #2

Sugata Mita: The Child-Driven Education
This particular video was one that I feel is very informative and reaffirm some of my beliefs as it relates to learning. For starters, I feel that before anyone can reach their maximum learning potential, they must be motivated. That's not to say that an unmotivated person will not learn, I just feel that they will not maximize how much they learn. I feel that a motivated learner will go the extra mile to get the most out of their educational setting, even if that means teaching themselves. Even though the use of computers and having access to the internet can be a great tool, I feel that a teacher who is present will play the most important role in helping a child to learn. Within this video, Mr. Mita talked about a couple of instances where he did a learning experiment with school-aged children. After listening to the responses from the children, it is apparent that not only are kids able to learn, but when they are motivated, they are more than capable of teaching themselves. One of the questions that I'm suppose to answer in this blog post is: How do you motivate someone to learn? After I really thought about this question, my answer would have to be that there is not one single method that one can point to as an answer. Since we all learn differently, we must use multiple methods when trying to get a group of people to learn. As it relates to children, I feel that allowing them to interact with their peers is very effective in terms of getting them to learn. Personally, my motivation for continued learning comes from my desire to become a teacher who can make a difference. In order for me to do that, I must be competent in what I'm going to be teaching my students.

Summary Post C4T Teacher #2

Mrs. Jen Deyenbery is teacher #2 on my blog post list. The first blog post that I commented on was using the Nintendo DS for Vocabulary by using the my word coach function. I definately learned a thing or two from this article because I had no idea that you could perform this task on a Nintendo DS. This is another tool that I can encourage my daughter to look at when she is playing her DS. The second post that I commented on was how her class did their science experiments via video conference. Within the last few weeks, I have discovered that with the right technology, we can reach into areas that I would have thought would be impossible to reach.

Blog Post #7

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture
Where do I begin? I would have to begin by first saying that this is one of the most inspirational stories that I have ever heard. In my opinion, this story is not inspiring just because of the message that is given, but also the attitude with which it is given under the circumstances. It is human nature to just give up when things are not going well in our life. It seems that the time we as humans face adversity, we begin to feel sorry for ourselves. Mr. Pausch is so inspiring because despite the hand that he was dealt, it never discouraged him from living his life. Outside of Mr. Pausch's courage, his last lecture also had a purpose. What I learned from this lecture is that one should always strive to achieve their goals and dreams despite the obstacles that you may encounter. As Mr. Pausch said in his lecture: "A brick wall will not deter those who truly want to succeed, but it will deter those who do not." Also in Mr. Pausch's lecture he spoke of the opinion that other people previously had of him in thinking that he was arrogant and smirky. What he later relized is the fact that we make mistakes in our life. The key to rectifying our mistakes is to first acknowledge that you made one. Secondly, we should apologize to those whom our mistakes have hurt. Finally we need to find out how we can make the situation right with those who have been hurt by our mistakes. Outside of this lecture Mr. Pausch did a couple of television interviews that were also inspiring. In these interviews, there was footage of him and his children having some quality time together. Despite his circumstances, he appears to be living a normal life. Often many times, people can wear their problems on their sleeves. In Mr. Pausch's case, he appears to be one of the happiest people that you will ever see. For those of you who are reading my post, let me ask you this question: If you were diagnosed with an illness and only given six months to live, how would you live your last six months? Hopefully we can all find the inner strength of Mr. Pausch and live all of our remaining days to the fullest. One thing that this lecture has taught me is that no matter how bad you feel your situation is, there is someone else who would love to change places with you. What we sometimes see as a major problem, is a mere inconvenience compared to others and their problems. We should all live each day to the fullest because tomorrow is not promised to anyone.

C4K 1 and 2 Summary Post

The comments that I made in the two posts were for a young man named McCoy. In reading his about me post, I discovered that we are both a lot alike because we both love our families. I thought that his manifesto was well written. Maybe I'll even take his advice and try to get to bed at a decent hour.

Blog Post #6

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler
With our society constantly changing, I often find myself wondering how difficult will it be for people to continue making a living. Take the post office for example. Because of the advances that we have made in terms of delivering mail, todays mail man as we know him(or her) seems to fading out. As we begin to educate ourselves more and more by networking, one has to wonder about the future of having a teacher actually in the classroom. Of course, this video did make a good point when it stated that someone has to be responsible for actually correcting the students even if they are educating themselves through networking. The message here seems to be that as a teacher, you must prepare yourself for this type of change.

A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment
What I have learned from watching this video is that a 7th grade student's learning environment is very much similar to the one that I learn in today. I can remember what the learning environment was like for me as a 7th grader some 20 years ago and I must say, I never would have imagined how much technology has effected the way we learn. Some twenty years down the road, today's 7th graders will probably be thinking the same thing that I am thinking today. One thing that you can probably be sure of is the fact that more changes are on the way in regards to what the learning environment is like today. It is for this reason that we must continue to educate ourselves on current technology.

The Machine is Changing Us by Michael Wesch
This was a video that I really enjoyed watching. For those of you who grew up watching TV shows in the 80's you can relate to what I'm about to say. TV shows in the 80's always seemed to have some sort of theme behind them with a lot less commercials than the ones that are on TV today. When watching a TV show today, it is difficult to leave the the TV set just to get a drink of water because if you do, you are subject to miss something and it becomes difficult to follow the show you are watching. As a young boy growing up, I enjoyed watching wrestling. Today, you could not get me to watch 15 minutes of it because to how different it is portrayed. I also am not a fan of reality TV shows. You Tube is very intersting to me because it seems to be a great tool that teachers can use in the classroom. Students who do projects in say Australia can be viewed by students around the world. In this instance, we can gain prospective on how other students view various topics.