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.