Blog Assignment 4

1. Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please? by Scott McLeod

Scott McLeod is an Associate Professor at Iowa State University. He has won many awards for his work in technology. In his article, Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?", I really enjoyed the sarcasm. He makes very important points on different ways students will be behind if they have no access to technology. Children need an opportunity to learn about how to use technology so that they are ready for the real world. There are ways to protect children from the sexting and cyperbullying. Parents and teacher just need to be cautious and monitor how the children are using the technology, which leads to teaching them the proper way to use technology. 

Students should know how to create things online and how to share them. This is all part of the real world. They will be emailing, social networking, creating power points and many other things related to technology in the real world. Why not use the class room for the reason it was created, to prepare students for their futures? Technology is part of their future so it should be a part of their curriculum. 

2. The iSchool Initiative by a high school senior

The iSchool Initiative is a great answer to all of the budget cut happening in school systems across the country. Our school have to spend insane amounts of money on books and supplies for students. Parents of these students also have to spend a lot of money on supplies for school. I know when I was in high school I had to have a graphing calculator, it cost my parents almost $200.00. Had the iSchool been available I am sure that my parents would have preferred to spend the $150.00 on the iSchool, that has much more useful capabilities than a graphing calculator that I was going to use for one class. 

This one device could be used for numerous things that students need to stay organized as well as a source of information. The slide show showed numerous apps that could be added to the iSchool. For example, the periodic table app, president app, graphing calculator app and a planet app. All of these apps could be very useful to many students for many subjects. Another piece of information that was pointed out was that the internet would be limited to certain sites that are appropriate for the students. This product could be the key to the problems occurring in our public school system. 

3. You Can't Be My Teacher by Darren Cannell

This video shoes that children are really interested in learning through technology. How could they be prepared for life if they aren't trained to use technology? The video brings up the point that educators need to know how to use things like Facebook, Twitter and internet in general. These social networking web sites are great ways to put out important information for your students to learn and have access to. 

Another point brought up in this video was learning to be safe on the internet. I think that this is the main fear that parents have when their children have access to technology. This is a legitimate concern for parents. As educators this should be the first lesson taught before giving students access to the internet. They should understand all of the real dangers involved and how to be safe, cautious and smart. Parents need to understand that their children ultimately need these skills to be able to survive in the real world. 

4. Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir - 'Lux Aurumque'

This video is amazing. I can't believe that someone was able to put something like this together. It sounded beautiful. It's almost hard to believe that none of those people had ever met. It was a video made with 185 people singing the same song but had never met. Using technology, it was put together to seem like a choir of 185 people singing together. It's amazing what people can do when they have the knowledge and access to such amazing technology.

This is such a great example of creative projects that can be made using technology. Students can have the opportunity to learn how to create these types of projects or any sort of topic that interest them. This is something students would enjoy doing and would learn from it along the way. The students would also have a final product that will last forever and they can be proud of. 

5. Teaching in the 21st Century

This video really speaks the truth about what we as educators are really being used as in the 21st century. The video says, "teachers are no longer the main source of knowledge". I don't completely agree with that statement. I think that educators are needed in the 21st century to guide students in the right direction and give them the information that they need to have in order to be prepared for college or life in general. Google is a great search engine for information but, students do need to know how to to use google and know how "validate information" given to them by google.

Laptops and ipods are great tools to be used in the classroom. I believe that students can still collaborate with one another through the internet and through blogging. Blogging is a great tool that could be utilized by the teacher to keep students and parents up to date on what is going on in the classroom. I think that students would be both entertained and engaged if they were able to work with laptops in their classrooms. I also agree with what it says in the video about the temptation when using technology. If a student is using a laptop or paper and pencil there is still going to be that temptation to be distracted.