Thursday, September 8, 2011

Blog Assignment # 3


It's not about the Technology
The blog Kelly submitted was quite interesting to me.The four steps that were mentioned in the post can really make a person evaluate the way they have or will teach.The 1st thing was that Teachers must be learners This is so true, because there are teachers who are "stuck in their ways" and there is nothing that anyone can tell them. The 2nd concept is learning and teaching are NOT the same just because an instructor has learned something does not mean that they can teach it to where someone can learn and understand.The next step that stood out to me was that Technology is useless without good teaching WOW! How many times have you been in a classroom and the teacher had no clue on how to operate a computer? We as teachers have to be technology literate. This will not only change how we teach, but everyone should be up to date with technology for it is forever changing.

Is it okay to be a Technologically illiterate teacher
Karl hit the nail right on the head with this blog. Technology is forever changing and new things are being developred everyday. It really makes you think when Karl mentioned that not being technologically literate is equavalent to being 30 and not being able to read or write. The children are our future and how can they advance and be successful if they are not prepared for what the world has to offer? Every educator needs to have the basics of technology, and be willing to learn more. Let's have the next generations ready and getTECHNIFIED.

Social media counts
Wait! Slow down! Really?! These were the things I shouted as I clicked to the link.What this says about my career is that every second that I am not learning something new, something I thought I knew is being replaced by something new.I now have a greater understanding of the saying " TIME waits for no man".In the few minutes it took me to type these words about 10,000 or more tweets have been sent on twitter. Wow! I have some catching up to do.


A Vision of Students Today
This video made me feel sad. Mostly because everything that flashed before me is true.Known facts are that the textbooks are expensive and are rarely used in the classroom.The cost to even get an education is so high, by the time you graduate the money you make the first year wil go to student loans. Another thing that made me extremely worried is that we are being taught about things that will not even exist in the future.
I know for a fact that if more classes were multi-media based there would be a better attendance rate. Most people I know who don't come to class say that the class is boring. When they do come to class they are on facebook or twitter and not paying the teacher any attention. If the walls at the University of South Alabama could talk what do you think They would say?

2 comments:

  1. "It’s Not about the Technology"

    Kelly’s blog does make you think about the way you will teach in the future. It is important for teachers to be learners so that we can improve are teacher and stay current. I think there are many teachers who stick to one way of teacher and teach the same thing the same way year after year. She is right on saying that teaching is not learning. The best point that she made was use van apply force to an object several times and if that object does not move than no work has been done. This is the same as teaching. You can teach a student something over and over again and if they don’t get it than no learning has been done. This is also an example of why teachers need to be learners so that we can teach material in different ways. After reading Kelly’s post I realized that it is not going to do students any good if we put technology into a classroom if teachers do not how to use it. A teacher must have knowledge about the computer before leading a class. It depends on the teacher whether technology can make a difference in education.

    Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

    This is very similar to the previous post. As I said before teachers should be up to date with technology. Karl Fisch had strong opinions and stated them without reserve. He believes we are to generous and should be more strict on the qualifications for teachers to be technologically literate. I agreed with him and think that the current staff as well should be brought up to speed with technology. You said it made you think when Fisch said “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.” I thought that this statement was a little harsh and that teachers who are not technologically literate are not that behind, but do need to be caught up.

    “Gary’s Social Media Count”

    This was crazy to watch as the numbers were steadily increasing. I could tell from your post that you were in shock as well. What I took from this was that you can see so many people are using social networks and technology in general and for this reason technology needs to be brought into our school system. As you said even as we are learning something new it is being replaced by something else. This tells us the longer we wait to get technology used consistently in the classroom the further behind we are getting.

    A vision of Students Today

    I found this video to be sad also. We know there are problems with the way we are doing things and yet we continue to do so. I know that I always hate purchasing books, because in most of my classes you do not get enough use out of them. They make books so expensive and put thirty chapters in them knowing in a course you do not have time to cover all thirty. The people I know that do not attend class regularly say the same things. Over all class is boring and they are all the same. We sit in a classroom where most of the time the teacher does not know our name and watch the teacher write words on the board. I know that I am not always enthused about attending class and just go because I do not want to fall behind. Then when people are in class and on the computer they are on social networks and not paying attention to the class. We need to make a change.

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  2. "What this says about my career is that every second that I am not learning something new, something I thought I knew is being replaced by something new." I really like the way you put this!

    " If the walls at the University of South Alabama could talk what do you think They would say?" Hmmmm.....

    Fun to read. Interesting!

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