Blog Post #5

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?


In this blog post by Scott McLeod, he argues that the most common things we fear about our kids using the internet, we shouldn't. McLeod uses a very strange methods to grab his readers attention. For example his post is broken up in fragmented sentences with random spaces on long drawn out pages. I was a bit confused at first but I remained interested to see how the post would end up. So I continued to read, and finally, I realized the point that he was conveying. The point was that we should not fear our kids becoming involved in the social media world, porn access, and Facebook, just to name a few. McLeod was not saying that porn was acceptable, but was teaching his readers that we should embrace the opportunities that technology brings, instead of just focusing on the threats of them. I believe that this writing was successful in persuading his readers to give technology a second look, and a hard one at that. 


Scott McLeod, is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Kentucky. He also is the Founding Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education. He has received numerous national awards for his technology leadership work, including recognitions from the cable industry, Phi Delta Kappa, the National School Boards Association, and the Center for Digital Education. So this is a man of great success and is very creditable in teaching new and innovative way to educate our children.
Don't Teach Your Kids this Stuff. Please?




The Ischool Initiative


This video by Travis Allen called the Ischool Initiative was very extraordinary! I never thought of my class in the future being ran though an IPhone, but I am now. When I first heard his idea I was sorta closed minded, but as Allen explained I began to open up. I must agree that there is a major issue going on in the public schools, children seem to be unteachable. I think part of the problem is that with all of the technology around our children, once they come into a class with a book and chalk board, they become instantly bored. In other words, after spending hours on Facebook, twitter and Youtube; who will want to be taught and lectured by a teacher with no media?

Allen's argument is that schools don't need to change what is being taught, but rather how we are teaching. We need to move from books to computers, preferably the Iphone. This again could become a wonderful  way to teach. For example, he spoke about a idea to load all of our library books and textbooks on the Ipod and it would save trees. So this idea could save time, money, and even the economy! Allen has since gained International exposure, and will continue to create new innovative ways to educate our children. 


Eric Whitacre's Vittual Choir


This video by Eric Whitarce was very different, say the least. I continue to be amazed at the power of technology. There are so many unlimited way to create positive teaching tools through the internet. I would have never in my wildest dreams though of this idea. The fact that these singers never met just blew my mind! It's hard to understand how they all remained on one accord through out the entire song. 


Overall this video gave a good example of what a positive use of the internet can produce. If we continue to strive for the good of technology, while battling the negative, we can accomplish, just as this video Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir, great things.




Teaching in the 21st Century




Teaching in the 21st Century by Kevin Robert's was an eye opening video. Robert showed me what it meant to teach in the 21st Century. We have come so far from the old way of teaching, with just books, paper and pencil. Robert's view is that things need to change a lot more. Teachers today provide only content, stories and theories to name a few, according to Roberts. He expressed that children today can acquire information from anywhere, such as your phone, Face book, and Google. But the main focus he was conveying was that children could use technology, but we should teach them how to use technology. Just because a person does something, doesn't mean they are using it to its full potential.


I personally agree with Robert's view on teaching in the twenty-first century. We do need to change from the original way, to a new way. The reason I say this is because if food changes, cars change, buildings change; why shouldn't teaching styles change? We don't have to change what we teach, just the method of how we teach. That way, we can better educate our children while keeping them attentive in class to what is being taught.


If Roberts is correct, then I will have to adjust my mindset to a more technological way of educating my class, instead of just books and paper. So EDM310 is a great start in this new way of thinking and teaching.


Reading Rockets


This website called Reading Rockets is a teachers dream. This site give access to so many different tools that would be valuable to any teacher of children. For example, there was this one section on Black History where Jacqueline Woodson explain this story of her families heritage and genealogy. She explained how she knew little about her families past and how through her Aunt and Grandmother helped uncover her past before they pasted. 
This would be helpful because during this month of Feburary, I could use this site to help provide informative information about Black History.


I also could use the Audiobook section because not all student can read, but many can listen. So this would help to gain my class attention through technology on the internet. Children love computers, it a given fact. But we have to move beyond that fact and provide things that can help them in the future. It need to be more that pure entertianment but it has to be engaginging, as Kevin Roberts said in his video, Teaching in the 21st Century.