Assignment 2

A Vision of Students Today by Michael Wesch

http://is.gd/2c0V0

This was a very interesting video with statistics compiled by college students from an anthropology class in Kansas. Statistics depicted how the educational system is not effective: classes are full, teachers require expensive books and materials which become quickly dated and irrelevant, and the technology (which is a huge part of the students' lives) is not being effectively utilized in the classroom. As depicted, the culture of college has not changed significantly since I was in school. However, this video also made me consider how disrespectful some students have become while utilizing technology. The video depicts many of the students listening to their iPods, texting and Facebooking during class instead of paying attention. These are all social media distractions that were not being used as actual tools for learning. I graduated from college over 13 years ago and am envious of all of the advantages kids have today when it comes to utilizing technology for academic and social purposes. I was one of the lucky students who had a computer, but it didn’t have nearly any of the capabilities they have today and I had to type reports on a typewriter. I definitely did not have a cell phone and recall a time of being stuck on the interstate at night with a flat tire by myself. Students today have significant advantages due to technology, but are they losing face-to-face interpersonal skills?

When I go to dinner with my nieces who are in high school and college they have their cell phones in their hands the entire time and say very few words because they are texting. In my own life there are days that I think “Wow! I wish I would have spent those 30 minutes reading a book to my children or exercising instead of being on Facebook.” I can say from experience that college isn’t nearly as hard or as much work as a job teaching elementary school. The whole objective of college was to make me an independent learner and prepare me for being a responsible adult. Although there were many courses that seemed boring and irrelevant to me at the time, as a whole it showed my employer that I would be a hard working employee and have the ability to learn and be adaptable to whatever training I were to receive. In my job teaching kindergarten and second grade for 7 years, I would have been fired if any administrator came in find me texting or on Facebook during the time I should have been teaching. Are the students today going to be able to restrain themselves from the social media they are addicted to in order to succeed in their profession? There is a lot that needs to be done to integrate technology into the classroom. However, technology is not a substitute for good teaching. Good teachers are good with and without technology and students learn a great deal from them and vica versa. A great teacher will take these social technology tools and show students how to use them for learning and collaboration in the work they are doing.


It’s Not About the Technology by Kelly Hines

http://www.eduratireview.com/2009/04/its-not-about-technology.html

Mrs. Hines makes many good points regarding how to use technology within the classroom. Her major point to me is that no matter how much technology is poured into any one classroom or on any one student, unless there is content being taught, learning will not happen.

Her first point indicating that teachers must be learners is very true. I took this same course over 13 years ago and it has changed tremendously since the first time I took it. We spent most of our time creating tables and inputting data into spreadsheets. We were making slides for slide projectors instead of power points. I am learning so much more this time around with the blogs and collaborative networks we are using. This class truly exemplifies how much teaching has changed in just the five years that I have been out of the classroom – I am taking it to renew my certificate. It has also reinforced the reason it is required that teachers continue their professional development. Just because you receive a degree in any one area does not mean that more learning and investigating will not benefit you as a teacher. Using technology to gain more knowledge and be a continual learner is the correct use of the tool.

Always looking for new and innovative ways in which students learn is important. But that means the teacher is actively pursuing new technologies, methods and directions. That is what being a 21st century teacher means, with or without the use of technology.


Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher? By Karl Fisch

http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/09/is-it-okay-to-be-technologically.html

This award winning blog regarding teachers and their technological abilities states emphatically that teachers need to be technology literate. Mr. Fisch states, “If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read and write.. “ Do teachers have a responsibility to their students to become literate in technology? Fundamentally, yes they do. The funny thing is it is so easy to teach students to use technology; it is like second nature to them. The real challenge is teaching most adults the same skills. Maybe this is what scares some teachers and keeps them from transforming as the world changes.

How can a student be educated by a teacher who does not understand the world from which that student is living now, or will enter upon graduation? Mr. Fisch stated that a teacher needs to know how to do something to teach it. I completely agree. I also believe the most important comment that Mr. Fisch made was that teachers need to teach students that it is appropriate to continually learn throughout their entire life. Upon taking this course I have realized that the more I learn the more I need to know. Teachers do not “know” everything, how can they, the world is moving so fast and there are so many different areas of mastery. However, teachers “know” how important and powerful knowledge is, and if we can show them the importance of knowledge, as a tool to achieve success, we have taught our students one of life’s greatest lessons. Success is not how much money we make; success is when one knows how to find the answers one seeks. Technology is a wonderful tool for which to seek knowledge.


Social Media Counts by Gary Hayes

http://www.personalizemedia.com/garys-social-media-count/

This interesting page shows the astounding rate at which social media is growing in today’s society. It is overwhelming for me view at and provokes a sense of panic as I see how fast technology is growing. Within a minute there were over 600 new blog posts and 500 new members to Facebook. It is obvious that many people are spending a significant amount of their time and money on technology.

What does this count mean for your profession as a teacher? It means that you can now more easily collaborate with your students and learning can not only occur within the walls of the classroom, but after school as well. The world is sharing new and different ideas all the time. We must be aware and prepare ourselves for this increase in utilization. We should also understand the purposes best practices associated with the tools and then we can relate to,understand, and help our students. Now more than ever we need to teach our students to be critical thinkers in order to understand and assimilate the fast growing media that is ever changing our world.