Blog Assignment 5

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?
This post made me really think about what kind of teacher I want to be. The post presents problems associated with students using the computer for learning tools. The post brought up the dangers of the internet. But at the same time, the post also mentions that using a computer makes our students think, share, learn, and be creative. Isn't this exactly what we want our students to do? I want my students to learn the material in a way that will be most memorable. I do not think that pencil and paper is the way to approach learning anymore. Our world will always have technology so it is time that we prepare our children how to adapt to the real world. These points on how to teach our students were brought up by Dr. Scott McLeod. He is an associate professor at the University of Kentucky. He is the founding director of CASTLE, the only center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators. CASTLE stands for Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education.

The iSchool Initiative
This video is from a high school student from Georgia. Travis does a great job at showing how effective teaching can be without having loads of books, papers, pencils, and funds. The apps that are available on such devices such as the iPod touch are great resources for students with little to no cost! A lot of the apps are also interactive which can help increase the students motivation to learn the material. In his second video, he talks about the revolution he started with the iSchool Initiative. I think it is great to see what can come from a high school student with an opinion. Travis is setting an example on how we should approach our classrooms and our teaching. Out with old and on with the new. The new being technology. Join his revolution and let's change how our student's are being taught!

Virtual Choir
This video is awesome. It is 185 different people singing virtually with other people they never have encountered before. It must have taken a great deal of time to produce something like this but it just goes to show how many options are out there when it comes to tackling something like this on the internet. The internet has so many uses. This video makes me think about having students in the classroom interact with people from across the world. No matter where the 185 different people were from, they all came together to make something that sounded absolutely beautiful.

Teaching in the 21st Century
 If you are reading this blog and have never watched this video about teaching in the 21st century, you must stop and watch now. All I can say is wow! This video is perfect for anybody who is against technology in the classroom. What I found to be the best part of this video is that part about teaching should be relevant, engaging and challenging. I hope to always remember these three words. I think that all lessons should be planned with these words in mind. It makes perfect sense to have the material relevant. It would not make any sense to teach students about things that they can not relate to in the real world. I also got a lot from the difference between entertaining and engaging. I have used the word entertaining several times before but I will never again use it when talking about learning material. When the work is challenging it makes our students think and apply what they have learned. I fully believe that if the knowledge isn't used then it is forgotten. I think that Kevin Roberts sees teaching as more of guiding them in the right direction. Teaching sounds more like you give the students all of the information and they are suppose to retain it. But with guiding them, or filtering as the video says, the students are learning the material and we are showing them what to do with it. Teachers will always be needed even though there is tons of information available on the internet. Our ways of teaching will just change with the times.

Reading Rockets
I absolutely love reading and I think this is my new favorite website. When I first pulled the Reading Rockets website up, I was overwhelmed. There are tons of links and information all over the place. But when I started clicking into things, the organization makes a little more sense. I first went to the teachers tab. The classroom strategies link is a great place to start when it comes to teaching your students reading. Topics are broken down to give you when you should teach them and how you could approach teaching the topic. There is even great resources available for when you have students who are struggling with reading. Take some time and click on Top 10 Things You Should Know About Reading. Great topics that every teacher should know. My most favorite thing about this website is the recommended book sections. You can look up books according to what subject you need the book for. Coolest thing ever! Makes me want to start collecting more books for my own library. I am so glad I got to see this website. I will surely pass this on again and again.