Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Week 7

network

Richard Miller videos part 1 & 2

I have always been a pen and paper kind of girl, whether I am writing a paper or writing assignments for this class. It just seems natural for me to do it that way. I love spending time in the Daphne Public Library just looking at all the books and checking them out if I find something that I need. Granted, I do look up probably 90% of my research online, but I always seem to find my way back to books some how, someway. Writing a paper for class with a pen and paper before I type it up is just a natural way for me since that was what I was taught to do.

Watching these videos of Mr. Miller of writing with multimedia had me thinking. I, personally, think (or thought) that I am able to write with multimedia and I would not have any problems with it. I realized after watching Mr. Miller that I am not quite up to par. I have a lot of learning to do before I start teaching my students how to write with multimedia

As far as if my students will be able to write with multimedia, I believe they will be. I may not be the one teaching them how to do it, they may be teaching me. (Which I find a little scary.) If the children we are watching in videos for this class are already blogging, making videos, and lord knows what else, I am pretty certain they will know how to write with multimedia. I have said before that all teachers should be a little technology literate, so I know that I will learn and hope to be the one to teach my students how to write with multimedia.

Wendy Drexler' s : The Networked Student

Am I ready to be a teacher to a networked student? No, at this point and time I don't think that I am . I am not fully networked yet and I probably never would have been if it were not for this class. If I were to teach a networked student and I am not a networked teacher that would leave room for the student to be smarter than me, when I am the one who is suppose to be teaching them. Now, when I become fully networked and have a full understanding of it then yes I will be ready to teach a networked student.

Since, I will be teaching elementary education I don't know how many PLN's I will be showing my kindergardeners through 3rd graders. The older students I may be able to teach them how to construct a PLN. I think that if Ms. Drexler wants to teach her middle school students how to do that then I think that that is fantastic. That way when they are in college and getting ready to graduate they can make a PLN and start off in their field a step ahead of the others in their field.

Overall, I think that PLN's are great tools for people. They are especially great for college students getting ready to graduate, people who have the same hobby (like photography), and also for people within the same field of study.

Michael Wesch's Whatever video

This video was really good, a little long, but good. I had never viewed Youtube as a helpful tool. Of course, there are extremely funny videos like everyone else I have watched, but like Mr. Wesch pointed out it is a tool that can be very helpful other than with educational videos. It, as well as other social networking sites, gives people the ability to "step out of the shell" and let other people see them for who they really are without being judged face to face. A lot of people have this fear of confrontation with other people. The fear of confrontation that comes with the fear that they will know what my insecurities are and they will make fun of me or they will tell everyone about them. Youtube, Facebook, Myspace, Blogger, and Twitter gives people a place to express themselves without dealing with their insecurities and without having to have any in person confrontations.

In high school you have your friends that you see and hang out with on a regular basis. Then when you graduate all of the "popular" and "nerdy" kids are asking to be your friends on Facebook and you accept. Why? This is because neither one of you have to deal with facing each other in person and dealing with your own insecurities. You have this computer in front of you and it's like you friends with them because you talk or send invitations to each other but you don't interact outside of that safe place.

As far as what it all means for my professional career as a teacher, I do not know. I don't think that Facebook or myspace can be incorporated into learning in the classroom, but Youtube can be. It has some educational videos on there that are "G-rated." So, I am not really sure what it means for my professional career, I guess I will just have to wait and see!

I did love the ending of the video about turning "whatever to you" into "whatever it takes."

Comments for kids
Jacqueline
- Jacqueline posted a few paragraphs all about coral reefs. She listed many facts about them that I didn't even know! She had written very good paragraphs with a lot of descriptive words and she made sure that every time she started a new topic about coral reefs she started a new paragraph and ended that paragraph with a strong conclusion sentence. Here is a portion of what I wrote to her: "Your post about coral reefs was great! I actually learned some things that I had no idea that they did. Keep up the great job!"

2 comments:

  1. Hey Danielle, I love reading you comments about the videos and websites. I liked what you said about Richard Miller’s videos. I also saw myself a paper and pen type person. I still find myself writing on paper then later transferring it onto the computer. I see how technology is going to increase in schools and if we want our students to keep up we have to know how to use the materials that are created in technology. But I will always have that old fashion side of me.

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  2. Hey Danielle, I enjoyed reading what you had to say about these topics. I agree completely on writing my paper first then typing, because I do the same thing. Plus this way I have a back up when something goes wrong. I do believe that I am not ready for teaching kids how to write with the multimedia just yet, but I am learning. I do believe all teachers need to learn how to work it before teaching it.

    Now the topic about networking, I still don't have mine established either. I do think that teaching the older kids about it will be more helpful then the younger ones. I need to establish mine so I will be ready.

    I agree completely on facebook and myspace not being a good resource for education. Now youtube can because they do have helpful videos.

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