An Open Letter To Educators

The post was very good I enjoyed it and the video was great. Morgan Bayda is on point when she talks about sitting in a lecture hall and having a professor lecture for hours its hard enough to stay awake. How am I supposed to retain the information that the professor wants me to know. I think that in the world we live in and all the technology that is around us and readily available we as educators have to take advantage of that and not teach the same way that our great grandparents were taught when they were in school. We have to change the system not just conform to it.

The video was good the guy was kind of goofy but the message was great. It is not a good thing when you can learn more on the internet than when your paying thousands of dollars to go to college. This bothers me, college should be a place to deepen your education not to school you in to doing the same thing that everyone else has done. It's like a business degree many people are trying to get one here at South and they all learn the same thing they are all "schooled" the same way well when you get your degree it is hard to find a job unless you think outside of the box you do things a little bit different.

Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

This has been by far my favorite video we have had to watch so far. It amazed me at how he can talk about the fact that he does not know how long he has left to live, and be calm about it. He does not seem to let his diagnosis get him down. I can tell that Randy enjoys his job and his life. Randy is definitely a man who practices what he preaches. His lectures reflect on his life experiences.


The lecture focused on how to lead your life. His first point was on childhood dreams. Everyone has these dreams when we were young and the world seemed to be in the palm of our hands. One of his dreams was to be in the NFL. I also wanted to be in the NFL when I was a kid. I didn't realize at that time that you have to be a freak of nature to make it to the NFL. But as a child we all think we can do anything. Most of us will not fulfill our childhood dreams but Randy did, most of them any way. But this just goes to show you that dreams are a good thing and let kids dream.


His next point was about enabling childhood dreams of others. Throughout his life he has had a lot of positive effects on people. He started a class that allowed students to be creative while learning. Randy used video game technology to teach students different things. The class taught students about computer programming. When the students graduated they had companies that were ready to hire them straight out of college. By starting the program he helped open doors in students' lives.


His last point was on lessons learned. He talked of people who have helped him get where he is today. In order for someone to be successful, they need someone to encourage them. Everyone has potential in life to do great things. Living life is truly a learning experience. I have realized that not everything in life is fair. We all have to deal with experiences that we don't want to face. However, they make us stronger as a person. He also talked on being loyal and doing the right thing. That part of the lecture was very true. Finding the good and people and being honest is the best way to live your life. I really believe it will make you a happier person. The lecture was very enlightening. It made me appreciate my life. No one really knows how long they have to live, so we should live everyday to the fullest.

ACCESS

Alabama Connecting Classrooms, Educators, and Students Statewide (ACCESS) was created by Governor Bob Riley and his task force on distance learning. The goal is to promote equal educational opportunities for all students. In order to meet the goal, classroom courses and teachers are provided through technology. Equal access will be provided through high quality instruction to improve student achievement through distance learning. It is really awesome because students can receive the highest quality education, no matter what school the student attends. The classes are taken online during regular school hours. The student is able to work at their own pace and has the opportunity to repeat a lesson if they are struggling. The student can take higher level classes that are not offered at all schools. It really gives the students who do not have the opportunity to take AP classes the equal chance at an education they deserve.

I think that ACCESS is a giant step to an equal education for every student. Technology is increasing so much it does not matter if you attend a lower class school. Every student is offered the same opportunity to take classes that interest them. I know this tool will be very useful in the classroom. It will be helpful to the student as well as the teacher. Providing an equal educational experience for every student will open doors for students in urban areas who do not experience AP classes in their school. I know ACCESS will be a huge site in the schools in the future.

ALEX

Alabama Learning Exchanges (ALEX) is a site that offers many benefits to teachers, administrators and students. It is an easy site to access because you do not have to search for the topics you need. All the information is available in one site. The site offers a course of study which is laid out by subject and grade level. All of Alabama's course standards are shown and can be used as a reference from this site. Web links are available which offer helpful sites for teachers, administrators and students. Teachers can access this site and create lesson plans or view lessons plans to use in the class. Professional learning provides development opportunities for teaching and learning tools. Educational podcasts are available for download to use in the class. ALEX was created by the Alabama department of education to provide quality for learning.

I think that ALEX is a great tool to use as a teacher. The site offers many references that can aid a teacher for the class. For example, the podcasts available could go right along with the lesson plan to help the student understand the lesson. The way the course of study was laid out will be very helpful in making sure that everything that needs to be taught is covered. The fact that it keeps you up to date with the latest news is awesome as well. This one website can be accessed to view many different subjects or topics that come to mind. It is a one stop site to use as a reference.

The Networked Student

The Networked Student is all about using technology in his psychology class. His whole class revolves around using the computer. The teacher never lectures and there is no textbook required. The class is taught through connectivism, which is the theory that learning is part of a social network with diverse connections and ties. This process allows the student to have more control in the way they are learning. The student has the power to lead themselves in understanding the material.

The student uses google scholar to look up articles for his post. He finds an article that is worthy of a post and shares the article. He also views other blogs to learn about psychology that other people have posted. I thought it was neat that he can look up mp3's and podcasts that supported his learning and download them to his ipod. Now that they are on his ipod he can listen to the information anytime he wants. By gathering all this information, he is able to create a virtual textbook. Now, his knowledge can be shared with the rest of the world. So why does he even need a teacher? The teacher shows the student how to use the network. The teacher shows the student how to differentiate good and bad information. The student acquires skills for the 21st century.

I thought the networked student was an interesting video. However, I do not know how much I agree with what technology is coming to. I cannot imagine an eighth grader performing all of their work from the computer, and not even using a textbook. It seems to me that the computers are becoming the teachers. I do not believe that all students are going to be able to learn like the networked student. Some students need a teacher to explain and teach the information. I do not see how all students are going to be able to teach themselves on the computer. In my opinion not all students would enjoy this new form of teaching.

Richard Miller This is how we dream

Richard Miller:This Is How We Dream Part 1 discusses the capability of communicating globally. Working towards making incremental changes. He discusses going on a whole different level of collaborating from the computer. The computer is the world at our fingertips. Everything you want to know can be researched on the web. Research papers can now be written without stepping into a library. Collaboration can be used through network technology with text, image, and film. Technology makes it possible to combine experiences into a document. Educators around the world can communicate learning ideas without leaving their classroom.

Richard Miller:This Is How We Dream Part 2 discusses the digital environment we live in. He lectures on the idea that all writing should be done on the computer. This process allows the writing to be there forever. We need to be able to share our work so that ideas can be gained. Ideas don't belong to us individually, but as a culture. He discusses moving to a digital composing material instead of word processor. He believes that writing is changing. The goal is to articulate dreams and share with others. Idea driven documents are needed to show the world.

Eliminating writing on paper and moving to multimedia writing does not interest me. I have always liked being able to use pen and paper instead of the computer. I understand that the computer is everything one needs to complete a paper, but I do not feel I am ready for that step. Maybe over time if it comes into effect my views will change, but for right now I am not crazy about the idea. I do not feel that students will be able to write with multimedia at first, but with practice they will become adjusted to it. If you have to adjust to a standard as part of the curriculum it is human nature that you will.

Useing Ipods in the Classroom

I think iPod usage in the classroom is a great step in educating students. It is a way of learning that can be used anywhere. iPods are no longer just being used for music downloads, they have taken on a more complex role...aiding in education. This link is a great site in explaining how iPods are being used in the classroom. Duke University gave out free iPods to students who enroll in the classes that require them. iPods are being used to enhance classroom materials, lectures, and assignments.

iPods are an awesome way to help students learn materials. They can become study aids for students. They can be used as a review before an exam. Having all this information available right from your iPod is amazing. Being able to have the lectures on audio will allow students to be able to listen to their iPod while they are doing other things. Imagine having your lecture on your iPod and being able to use that instead of taking notes thats like a lecture packet on steroids. Having the information available on the iPod is conventient because you can take it anywhere you go. Down the road textbooks could possibly be replaced by the iPod.

Itunes U

This was the first time I have ever heard anything about iTunesU. I think it is an awesome tool that can be helpful to anyone who uses it. The information is coming straight from the universities, museums, PBS stations, and cultural institutions. You can also make audio and visual content available for download and subscription. It seems simple and easy to use.

I think iTunesU can be very helpful to teachers and students. For example, a teacher can download a lecture and if the student was absent or did not understand everything taught, the student can listen to it online. There is all kinds of educational information on this site. Educational resources are available free at hand. I thought the fact that you can get information about universities on there was pretty neat. iTunesU will become more known once the word gets out about all it has to offer.

Alice Christie Ruburic

Dr.Alice Christie Teaching Class

I chose to write my blog on the effectiveness of the rubric. I was first introduced to the rubric last semester in my Education in Diverse Society class. We had to make a rubric to take into the schools to use as a guideline for events we are looking for. At first I was not into the project, but once I started composing my rubric it started to make sense to me. A rubric is a chart that can guide students in completing a task. It contains a set of criteria and descriptions to evaluate student work.

A rubric can be very helpful in the classroom. They can be used to guide students in completion of an assignment. It can act as a set of guidelines that the teacher expects. They can be used as tools to develop the students' abilities. In the classroom, a rubric can also set a clear line for achievement levels. Rubrics are not used as much in the south, however, they are becoming more popular. I think that in the future the rubric will be a more commonly used tool for teachers.

Info on Podcasting

On this site It showed me that while your regular subjects reading, writing, math, and science are very important the future is in technology. This goes back to the whole thing is it alright to be a technologically illiterate teacher. I believe that in today's world it is not okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher. Podcast, skype, videocasting, and bloging can help a teacher present information that you would usually get from a book and make it more enjoyable and easier to learn. Teachers must learn how to do all these things or the world is going to leave you behind. It is amazing at just how much even first graders know about technology take some of the kids from our Comment4kids ,this is where our class comments on classroom blogs from all over, these kids were learning how to blog and use photoshop I didn't learn about these things till i was in college
I think websites like the one I visited http://www.langwitches.org/blog/category/podcasting/, are great for students and teachers both as future teachers we can not stop learning if we do then we have failed as educators. I am not a huge fan of podcasting but I do like videocasting and bloging I think that they can be huge when dealing with childten and teenagers. As educators we must be as technologically literate as possible if not we should find another career.