SPRING BREAK!!!

Comments4teachers

I was assigned to follow the What Now? What Next? So What? blog for my comments4teachers weeks 7,8, and 9. The blog was written by a teacher from New Zealand. His post are sporadic but when he does post it is usually something very entertaining. For week 7, I commented on his post about banning pencils and crayons in schools because they are dangerous and are becoming very disruptive in the classroom. Here is a little of what I wrote:

"Wow! Banning pencils and crayons in schools, I am speechless! I guess we have to protect our children from anything and everything that may endanger them. The only thing is is that everything in life could endanger them or someone else, the only solution would be for everyone to be in a giant bubble."

Week 8

"I love that you are just using pictures that you have played around with and create it all from scratch, basically. A lot of the time, i put my pictures onto Picasa and then play around with all of the different settings and things. Seeing what you have done, has made me want to go and try to make my own Avatar creation! Please come and visit my blog and hopefully, if things don't turn out too disastrous, I will have my own Avatar! Thank you and wish me luck!"

For week 9, I read his post about the Internet being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. This was very interesting because it raises the question of "Do you agree or disagree?" Here is my answer:

" I think that the award should not go to the Internet as a whole, but to the person or people who invented it."

Comments4Kids

Happy belated St. Patty's Day to you! Your post about the tradition of St. Patrick's Day was really great! This year for St. Patrick's Day I forgot to wear green, so you know what that means, I was pinched. Next year I will definitely remember to wear the color green!"

Week 9

ALEX

At first glance, this website seems a little confusing. After a few minutes of trying to navigate my way through this site I think I have figured it out. The home page has 8 links that can lead teachers to lesson plans, websites, podcasts, and other very helpful tools. When you use the Courses of Study link it takes you to a list of courses that you can choose from. Once you choose a course that you would like to look up you choose the grade for which you would like to view it will then take you to a list of lesson plans that also has useful websites that can be used in the classroom. Here is a link to a lesson plan that I found for a math lesson for third graders. Almost all of the links o the home page will take you to a list of lesson plans that you may use in your classroom.

The overall usefulness of Alex for any teacher, in my opinion, is that it is very useful. It provides a way for all teachers in Alabama to share with one another their lesson plans, websites, and podcast that have worked for them in their classrooms. This whole site is very useful. When I become a teacher I will definitely be using this site to help me with my lesson plans. I encourage all teachers of Alabama and also all future teachers of Alabama to visit this website and see all of the great things that it has to offer.

ACCESS

The ACCESS program is an online tool for all Alabama high school teachers and high school students to use as an additional tool in and out of the classroom. Any high school student in Alabama can login and then from what I understand, there are multiple tools to help with just about any and every course offered in any Alabama high school. There are also courses like Mandarin Chinese, German, and Latin that a student can take as an extracurricular class. However, students do not receive class credit and it also does not count as a duel enrollment project, which I think is a downfall. In one of the other links that is listed as "Resources," students can receive additional help on homework and classwork from other approved websites. One of these websites is ALEX.

Overall, this site seems like a great tool for high school teachers and students, but it really does nothing for anyone under that age group. Personally, I like the ALEX program better, this is because it is more user friendly and is designed for a broader range of age groups. The only thing that I question about ACCESS is: "Do students or teachers really use it?" My sister who attends Daphne High School, when I asked her if she had ever used the site for homework or in class, she said she had never heard of it. She is in the IB program, which is the degree plan above AP. Now if these students are not using it or had never even heard of it, is it really serving its purpose? Maybe she has just had a teacher who had used it in his or her classroom or maybe the school chooses not to participate in the ACCESS program. The idea of it seems great, I just hope that it is actually used .

Comments4Kids

This week I read the post for the class by the teacher for the blog English with Rosa. The post was about the Oscars. The class seemed very excited to watch it to see who would win what award. I was also really amazed about the overall class blog, it is very organized and is really a lot of fun! Here is what I commented about the post: "I am so glad that other people get just as excited as I do about the Oscars! I am just wondering if you all enjoyed watching them as much as I did? Also, the class blog as a whole is amazing! Keep up the great job!" This is the link to the website.

Week 8

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Wow! I wish more people would have his outlook on life, he is so positive despite his diagnosis! He made all of his childhood dreams come true through his virtual reality worlds. He started his lecture off by telling what his childhood dreams were and then how he accomplished them. He does not let anything stop him from achieving what he wants, he says several times about how brick walls were put up to make ourselves prove how much we want what is on the other side. He says that if a brick wall stops you from achieving what you want that is on the other side then you truly didn't want it.

A major part of his lecture was the program he started at Carnegie Mellon University, called Building Virtual Worlds. He taught his program for about 10 years, with his first semester students he gave them only 2 rules. The rules were no pornography and no fighting. These first students blew him away with what they did just in the first 2 weeks! After talking with his mentor he decided not to set a bar. By not setting a bar, he opened the door for bigger and better virtual reality projects. Having a teacher like him who would not set a bar for you because he know that you can do better is really great!

Dr. Pausch gave several great ways that as teachers we can show our students how they can achieve their dreams no matter how big and impossible they may seem . As future teachers we are an important part of a child's future, as Dr. Pausch stated. What I found very interesting was that in his lecture he showed some of the students that he had helped achieve their dream. He truly is a great professor and has had many amazing opportunities that we are all very lucky to have been able to have heard all of them.

Overall, Randy's lecture was very inspirational and encouraging. He has made me want to become a great teacher and an even better person. He is very inspirational as I have said before. Even though this was a long video to watch it was really great to listen to!

Comments4Kids

This week for comment 4 kids I commented on the funny video of Mr. McClung singing "Party in the U.S.A" for the one of the school's homecoming week activities. Here is what I said: "My name is Danielle and I attend the University of South Alabama and for my EDM310 I was required to watch your video. It was hilarious! I have to agree with the judge that old you to keep your day job, but I give you big points for getting up there and singing!"

PLN

To start off for my Personal Learning Network I have set up a Twitter account. My username is daniellepitt and you can check it out my clicking here. So far, I have begun to follow a few teachers like Mr. Lamshed and Mrs. Kelly Hines. I have contacted Mr. Lamshed about the technology that he uses in his classroom and also I have commented on his awesome fundraiser Clippers for Cancer. Because of the time difference and being on the opposite sides of the world it has been a little difficult to talk to one another. So far, everything has been going really good. Can't wait to finish this up!

Week 7

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!"

Comments for Kids

Week 4
Ann R.
-Ann wrote about her favorite time of the year, which was Fall. Here is a little of what I commented on :
"Your post about fall was fantastic! My favorite season is the summer because here in Alabama, we have the beaches that are so close we can go just about anytime we want to!"

Week 5
Ashleigh
- Ashleigh wrote a story titled "Bitten" it was a short story about her experience being bitten by a spider. She did really great with describing everything that happened. I had already commented on it once but it was not posted so I went ahead and tried to comment again to see if it will be approved.

Week 6
Mubasshira
- Mubasshira had a video of drawings of his New Year's Eve. They were really great drawings. Here is what I posted as a comment on the video and description:
"Your drawings were really good! Also, your story underneath the video was good too! I just have one question, what made that night so much more special and beautiful?"

Week 6

Alice Christie

Alice Christie's photo section was my favorite because I enjoy taking photos myself. If only you could see my house, there are picture everywhere!! When I downloaded Picasa for this class I spent hours editing my pictures, because I didn't know that you could do that with a program that was free!!! Having pictures in my classroom would be so much fun. When your teaching a lesson and you can't have the real thing in your classroom (i.e. lions, tigers, bears, oh my!) the next best thing would be to have great pictures to show your students.

A way that pictures could be used in a classroom would be to have students take pictures of objects that are in the shape of letters in the alphabet. Since I am teaching elementary students this would be a fun and easy lesson to teach and a great way for my students to learn. Another way that I could incorporate photography into my lessons would be for the older children to make a power point on something to do with their life. Just like we did!!!

iTunes U

This is a great tool for older students. It would not exactly help elementary students, the students that I plan to teach, but maybe there is a possibility of them using it in the future. It was a little difficult at first but after several tries i found it just as easy as the regular iTunes. As far as other schools that use iTunes U i checked at schools like the University of Alabama, Duke, and Stanford's. Stanford's iTunes page was really cool. Here is the link to their page. They offered many things like courses, lectures, and some text.

Having iTunes U could be useful in the classroom. As a teacher, I could post my lessons on there so that my students could review them before a test, so a parent can know what is happening in their child's class, or if a student is out for that day they can know what they missed and it be like they never even missed a day!

iTunes U in the Classroom!

iTunes U is a great tool for both students and teachers! Teachers are doing so much with ipods in classrooms like having students do podcast and then making a CD for the parents so they can review their progress. Many teachers can access any speech through the Library of Congress. I read an interview with an educator in California ( you can read here) where he had nothing but great things to say about the ways ipods are being used in his schools. Duke University's page offers so much! They encourage their students to be creative with technology. They gave out ipods to assist with technology and classrooms. iTunes U could help students study while driving, working out, and just going from class to class.

Week 5

Wikipedia Scanner

The program that Virgil Griffith made for scanning Wikipedia to see who edits what, is an OK tool! As far as if (or when) Wikipedia can be used as a trusted source of information, I have never thought of Wikipedia a trustful source. It is just too easy for anybody to go on there and edit anything and everything. With this new scanning program I don't think that it will help Wikipedia ever become useful. People will still be able to edit anything, they will just be caught faster and more easily.

Wikipedia Scanner is a really great idea I just don't think that it really is all that useful. I mean what does it really matter if Wal-mart went in and re-worded a few sentences or if a big time company went in and deleted a few paragraphs? This is just a new way to show that big time companies lie and how they will continue to do so. So, I will say again, this new program is an OK tool.

"What I've Learned this Year"

The post by Mr. McClung of "What I've Learned this Year" was great. It went through what he thought his first year as a teacher was going to be and then what it actually turned out to be. His initial thought of how it was going to be all about him and how he taught just to please his superiors and not about his students and how they learned. Boy, was he wrong!! He finally learned that it is all about his students and that he needed to communicate with them and become more flexible with his lessons. He just needed to get over his first fears before he got into the groove of things.

His thoughts of what he went through in the beginning were exactly what I am having now before I start teaching. There are a lot unknown factors that are scary and so I think that teachers, especially new teachers, have this idea that they are going to be able to go into the classroom and present this perfect lesson and not have any problems. NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!! Communication with students is a key factor in teaching as well as being able to go with the flow. So I think that Mr. McClung learned so much in his first year and I thank him for sharing with everyone what he has learned!

presentation

Week 4

Comment4kids

I read Ann's post about fall and why it is her favorite time of the year. Reading a student's blog is really fun for me because it allows us as teachers and future teachers to see into their world. Having a student write a post really seems to help with the student's ability of writing a paragraph. I really enjoyed reading her post and look to forward to reading other student blogs.

Creating Podcast

I watched the video podcast The benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom. This podcast was really informative about ways that in my classroom in the future I can use it to enhance my teaching skills. I am one who believes in the "old-fashioned" way of teaching, a teacher standing in front of a classroom and teaching without or with minimal technology available. This podcast showed a few ways that having technology in my classroom can be used for good. The example of the child who is home sick from school and was able to get online to view class assignments and study for tests. This not only can help the students succeed in class it will also hopefully help more parents become more involved in the classroom. Having students and parents be able to be more involved in the classroom is really great and what students need, especially these days.

Teaching students how to effectively use technology, podcasts specifically, will be something that I as a teacher will be able to teach so that the students will be able to take with them as they grow. The students seem to really like learning off of the podcasts. Each student had nothing but great things to say about podcasts. I loved the little girl who said that her parents were glad that she was listening to the podcasts instead of Beyonce! Even the principle seems to think that when used properly podcasting can be an effective tool.

Some of the tools that I learned to use in my podcast was: write a script, incorporate music, record a video to go with it, and have more than one person. I look forward to making my podcast and possibly teaching my future students how to podcast.

Week 3 cont.

Mrs. Cassidy's Classroom Blog & Little Kids... Big Potential

The children in Mrs. Cassidy's classes are going to be able to do great things in this world with technology just from the lessons learned in this teacher's class. They are already learning things that I myself are learning or have not even learned yet and I have them beat by at least 10 years! This just goes to show how much technology has changed in that short span of time. It really is awesome to see a teacher take something like technology and show her children how to apply it to her core lessons that she is teaching. Especially, something like the Nintendo DS that is suppose to be for at home and playing games and she has transformed it into another tool for her children to use and learn off of. The project about traditions and having people from all over the world leave a comment on the traditions they do was absolutely fantastic. I can only hope that when I begin teaching I can teach my students something like that that they will use for the rest of their lives.

Here is what I said in my comment:

"Hey kids!! You all did such a great job with you blogging, when I was your age teachers didn't know what blogging was , so you need to thank Mrs. Cassidy for everything she has taught you! I am just now learning how to do it in my EDM310 class and I am 20 years old! Keep up all the great work!"
Comment Posted on January 31, 2010 at 03:30 PM by Danielle Pitt

Here's What's Coming - 1 year old using iPhone

This one year old child is pretty good playing with daddy's iPhone! He can turn it on, unlock it, and choose the app that he wants, and then navigate his way through that app! It is pretty cool to see this child doing this. The only problem is that to me yes, it is cool that he can turn it on and all that, but then again he probably only sees this phone has a play toy that can pull up pics for him to see. Overall, I would have to say that this video is not all that amazing to me.

Week 3

Podcasting

For the 6 podcast that we were supposed to listened to I chose: Edtechtalk #151, Kidcast #56, Macbreak Weekly #177, This week in Photography #126, Teachers Teaching Teachers #181, and Smartboard lessons #1. All of these podcast were different in many ways, like how many hosts the podcast has and the wide range of topics. Some of the podcasts had just 1 host, whereas the others had multiple hosts and the topics ranged anywhere from photography to the idea of asking questions. Even though they have such wide range of topics they each talk about strong ideas and each host is well versed in his or her topic.

The first 2 podcast that I listened to were: Edtechtalk #151 and Kidcast #56. Edtechtalk #151 was one of the podcast where it had multiple hosts all conversing on a single topic. Having this many hosts all competing for air time was a little much for me, it was almost confusing. The topic for this podcast was technology around the world and its numbers. while the topic was rather interesting because they gave numbers of the amount of people who had internet access and people who had cell phones. The number of people who have cell phones surprisingly outnumbered the number of people who had internet access. The other podcast called Kidcast #56 was the opposite of the Edtechtalk because it only had 1 host. Only having 1 host made it a little boring since there was no real "discussion" going on. The host simply talked about how "Questions Make the World go Round," while this is an ok topic for say maybe you and a friend talking about it in one of those, question the universe conversations, to me it was not something that you could make an entire podcast out of.

The second 2 podcast that I listened to were: Macbreak Weekly #177 and Teachers Connecting #1. Macbreak Weekly had multiple hosts all talking about the new ipad that just came out. This to me was an interesting topic since it is so new that I don't know anything about it. (Not that I would if it had been out for a few months!) The hosts all made valid arguments as to who the ipad was marketed towards and why, all of its features, and if there is any major difference in it from the itouch and iphone. While I didn't like the multiple host I did thoroughly enjoy the topic and the way that it was setup like a radio station with some commercials and advertising. The Teachers Connecting podcast about the Smartboard would have been better if it was not the very first episode. The hosts did seem to have good on air chemistry, but they spent way too much time talking about themselves , in my opinion. I think that I would prefer to have just two hosts on a podcast so it is easy to differentiate between the hosts and it is not confusing, one host just seems a little bit boring.

The last 2 pocast that I listened to were: This Week in Photography (TWiP) #126 and Teachers Teaching Teachers #181. TWiP, to me, was very interesting because I like photography. This particular podcast was on "Racism in Photography" it was about a new camera coming out that had the facial recognition software and how it does not focus on people with darker skin. Once again this was a multiple person podcast and it did get confusing at times when more than one person would speak. The podcast Teachers Teaching Teachers #181 was possibly the farthest topic that I am interested in, which made it boring. The topic was "Getting Schooled on Gaming," it talked about how gaming is being incorporated into education and its pros and cons. Since I do not play games like Avatar, this podcast was completely uninteresting.

Overall, I enjoyed listening to the podcasts and seeing the difference in them and the many different ways that I can apply to my podcast in a few weeks. Some of the ways that I liked were having two hosts, so that it will not be boring with just one and will not be confusing with way too many people trying to talk at once. I may even add some music in the background, so that if there is any "dead air" it won't be silent. They have all given me great ideas for any podcast that I may do in the future.

week 2

A Vision of Students Today

This video does capture the majority of college students' experiences. I would say that this particular video does not capture my college experiences. To begin as to why it does not capture my college experiences is because my class sizes have averaged about 50 students or less and my teachers have all learned my name within the first few weeks. Maybe, I have just been one of the lucky ones with choosing these classes!! Secondly, my my experiences have been different for me because I work full time now and that has given me the ability to be able to pay for all of my tuition and other costs without having to take out any loans. Also, with my particular job it allows me to be able to do homework and study a little bit, which helps out greatly.

One thing that a person could add to the video is a way to show the diversity among the students. Diversity, in this case being students both young and older, because not all students are in their 20s. The director could also show in a portion of the video a student at a full time job holding a sign saying " I am going so I can get that 'big promotion'." Overall, I thought the video was put together very well and very creative by having students hold up signs. It reminded me of the old saying "putting a name with a face," this is because instead of just having a power point with the wording of " the average college student __________." This idea, whether planned or not, was great!

It's not about the Technology

Kelly Hines hit the nail on the head with this post! Her 4 points: Teachers must be Learners, Learning and Teaching are not the Same Thing, Technology is Useless without Good Learning, and Be a 21st Century Teacher without the Technology all have great points. The first point, Teachers must be Learners, is probably the most important because as future teachers we will constantly have to be learning in order to give our students the best education that they can get. Teachers who try to get by with only going to the mandated workshops are not only, cheating themselves but most importantly, setting up his or her students for failure in the future. In her 2nd point, Learning and Technology is Useless without Good Teaching, she explains it as simple as possible, but makes a very strong point at the same time. Just because a teacher stands up in front of a classroom and teaches does not mean that the students are learning. I think we have all been in that situation! Her 3rd point that simply states that just because a teacher has the technology equipment does not make that teacher any better, only proper training and an eager mindset will do that! Her 4th and final point, Be a 21st Century Teacher without the Technology, is another really good point. Teachers only need the very basic technology, if any at all, to achieve teaching students the "framework of learning."

Ms. Hines stated in her post that " it is not about the technology" because it truly isn't, it is about the teacher and his or her ability to communicate with his or her students without misusing the technology that is provided to them. Technology classes are of course an exception to this, simply because of the obvious, you need the technology there in order to teach and explain it. Students still deserve that 1:1 time with a teacher and do not deserve to be passe off to learn on his or her own.

Karl Fisch: Is It OK to be a Technology Illiterate Teacher?

Even thought Mr. Fisch's post was written out of aggravation from the day, I found it to be very thought provoking and true. Teachers cannot be expected to teach anything that they themselves never took the time to learn themselves. Would a teacher teach reading if she/he did not take the time to learn to read herself/himself? I don't think so! Mr. Fisch made several great points that I would have never even thought of, for example, I am not very good at math and I have always been the one to say out loud that I wasn't. I would never go around and say that I am not very good at reading because I would be too embarrassed! So, he brings up a good question why do people go around saying that they are not good at something when they won't say something that they are embarrassed by? Simply for the fact of that one little word, EMBARRASSED. It is sad, but true.

So, my answer to the question that Mr. Fisch asks "Is It OK to be A Technology Illiterate Teacher?" is no. Teachers need to know at least the basics for some kind of technology. It is not as if the school system is requiring all teachers know how to write a computer program in complete 0 and 1 format. All teachers owe it to his or her students to learn the basics. I don't know how many times I have said that if a teacher does not take the time to learn something they are eventually setting his or her students up for failure in the future.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count

I guess it is useless to say that technology has really taken off in the within the past 10 years, but it truly has!!! As always it will continue to change, grow and hopefully become better. Technology will always be a major part of my life as a teacher and I can only hope that I will be able to use it as a great teaching/learning tool for my students. As far as what it means for my professional career as a teacher, I am not really sure. There are a lot of unknowns for that answer. By the time that I begin my teaching career technology will have changed and I will be learning how to use it, I am not sure what grade I will be teaching and with that I am not sure how I will be incorporating it into my lessons. I am sure of two things, that technology will be there for me to use and it will be a great tool to be able to use.

Week 1

Did You Know? 3.0

The video "Did You Know? 3.0" was a real eye opener for me. I don't tend to think on that large of a scale, I tend to think on a smaller scale of mostly what goes on around me and my family and friends. But then I watched this video and I realized that this all does effect me, because one day instead of teaching English to children in schools we may be teaching Chinese. Most of these statistics that were given absolutely floored me! Who would have thought that eventually computers will be smarter than us humans (and we are the ones supposed to be designing and engineering them)! Maybe I should consult google to see who did think of this. I know that I would have never sat down and thought how far technology has come in the past 10, 20, 50 years I would have continued to go day to day taking advantage of it.
I read the comments that were posted for this video and almost every comment was about how he or she could not believe how much technology has come along. We have all taken advantage of everything that is available (i.e. cell phones, computers, the Internet). For example, we would not be able to have this class if it was not for the technology breakthroughs. I know that I am very thankful for it and I am going to use it all to the best of my abilities. It all really goes to show how much we all thrive on the instant gratification theory. People, including myself, always want the next bigger, better, faster thing sometimes that being before it ever even available, just to say that we have it and than something new comes along and we forget about the last biggest, better, fastest thing that is sitting in the bottom of the closet. So, the question "Did You Know?", my answer is no, I did not know.

Mr. Winkle Wakes
The video "Mr. Winkle Wakes" really goes to show that sometimes the "old way" of teaching is the best way to teach with maybe some minor improvements. I believe that students learn more from human interaction than many people realize. If a computer was to take over another job such as teaching who or what is going to inspire children to grow up to be something great like the President of the United States? Computers would only bring about more laziness from our kids and their future. Would we let a computer run the government? I don't think we would, but I think that we could use the computer's help.
I have a question... Would you fix a faucet that the water flowed out of properly? My answer would be, no. I may however, install a water filter to improve the water's taste. So, if a teacher standing in a classroom full of children teaching has worked for many years why change it? I say that we don't change the way of teaching let's improve the way of teaching. Adding computers to classrooms should only improve the way children learn, not take over and do all the teaching. I think this video really portrays that way of teaching.

Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity
WOW! Mr. Robinson spoke the truth and I was truly moved by his speech. Our school systems put creativity at the bottom of the list. Simply, because teachers are preparing them for a job that the child will have when he or she is 30 years old. I love the saying in the video "all children are born artist, it is their job to not to grow out of it." Teachers should treat creativity equal to math and literature in the classroom. Why do we teach children to be a certain way, if we say at the same time that they each have their own different personalities but we strive to make them conform to a mold. Then if a child does not conform we chalk it up to him or her having ADHD. It should not only, be the child's job not to grow out of creativity, but also it should be the teacher's job to encourage that creativity.
I completely agree with Mr. Robinson, school does kill creativity. Math and science are very important for a student to learn so is how to be creative. I know that once I begin my teaching career I will strive to inspire the creative child or children that I teach and not take that creativity away from him or her. I will strive because growing up I was that child in class that wanted to draw rather than do my classwork. Then when I was in high school I had a history teacher let me know that it was o.k. for me to be creative and she showed me a how to be creative and apply that to my schoolwork. It is because of her, that I want to become a teacher. I want to help a child embrace his or her creativity and let them know that it is o.k. to be that way because that is how God wanted them to be.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
Vicki Davis in the beginning says that when students have only pen and paper then only certain students will succeed. While agree with that theory, in a class where only computers are used then again, only certain types of students are going to succeed. A good percentage of students will fall in the middle where they will do average in both ways of learning. It is very hard for all students to succeed in every different course of study. This is why I believe, as I have stated before, that teachers should be fully involved in teaching and only using a computer to improve or enhance what that teacher is trying to teach. While Ms. Davis seems to me like she is pushing her duties, as far as teaching goes, onto the computers and she is simply there to supervise. What I will commend Ms. Davis for is showing her students how to collaborate with other students from around the world.
This video led me to believe that instead of learning the students are playing. Some may argue that this is a way for a student with a creative mind to be able to exercise his or her creativity. I agree that using a computer is a great way to pursue that creativity, but there is a fine line between creativity and play time in the classroom. A teacher should be able to show the student how to apply that to schoolwork, not how to play the Sims Life games. Using digital media to show students how to express their creativity in a way that would allow them to use their digital media creativeness in the student's core classes. This is how I believe "harnessing" a student's "digital smarts" should be used.