Teaching Digital Natives

Wow, this video was powerful! 2011 had the lowest SAT reading scores in history?! That’s POWERFUL! To me, it shows me that I have my job cut out for me. I think this video related to my generation the most, especially teachers in college. I cannot stress this enough, the world is on the brink of another revolution. Not revolution as in war, but something similar to an industrial revolution. So much in society is changing everything from social relations, to how governments operate, to how we educate our students.

I think this is in relation to how much the world changed during the 1950’s and 1960’s. Not just for the civil rights movements all over the world, but the change in televised media, telecommunications, the automobile revolution; so much changed during that time. I feel this is the time when it is going to happen again. Some stats from this video show that, Lady Gaga has more followers than the population of Sweden and Israel combined?! Students spend 31 hours a week on the internet?! These are staggering statistics! Times have really changed!

As we as teachers step into the classroom, we need to know this and implement this into everything we do. Only 2% of students resort to books for answering questions?! This does not mean they cannot read, it simply means they have faster, easier accessible sources available like Wikipedia! We should cater to out digital natives, these students who grew up playing games on their parents iPhone, and those who had there own in the 3^rd grade.

Technology Advanced School

This video was amazing! It is hard to even process my thoughts because it was literally that astonishing!

I have had many moments where I have been exposed to knowledge that completely changes my way of thinking. Made me consider altering my plans for myself.  And also encourage me to keep moving forward. Moments that are EXTREMELY difficult to put into work and nearly impossible. After watching this video, I had one of those moments. (so bear with me)

This video meant more to me than what the school, MC², itself is doing. It made me think about who I am, who I want to become, who will help me get there, and much more. This video was inspiring to me as a future teacher. It gives me hope knowing that schools of this caliber exist. I desire to teach, but the “tradition” methods of teaching are not for me. The introduction to this video is an example of what I am really trying to say here- public education has not changed in decades. I also believe that it is very resistant to change and it will take a lot of work to change it. However, watching this video confirms that I am not alone in this thinking. I know I am not the only one who feels this was and there are educators who are making change. There are groups of educated people who have a consensus that education needs to be more advanced than what it is today, not just in technology, but in the process of education. One of the main reasons for education is to build the society of tomorrow, to train the leaders of tomorrow. In my opinion, overall public education system is not doing that.

Yet, what I do know and realize from this video, as well as from my general understanding of the education system, I see we are on the brink of major reform. And that is what keeps me moving forward! 

Technology in the class room

WOW! I never thought schools were using tools like iPod Touch’s in their rooms! I believe this is a wonderful idea! I am sure any student would be more than happy to type on one to do assignments. I am a firm believer in technology in the classroom, especially when it produces results that show youth are more engaged and learn more. I would love to see it expanded to all schools!

However, with this technology comes one concern, what about the school who cannot afford to have technology in their classes? What about those children? I that funding in schools is not beneficial to certain areas where things like technology could really make a difference. I suppose the counter argument to this would be “If these schools can barely afford new text books, why would they buy technology.”

My Answer: Some of these schools could just get rid of textbooks all together and use something like a kindle or iPad for textbooks. I really think these would be easier on schools because instead of having to having to get textbooks for every class, student and subject; they could easily be downloaded to the piece of technology. Further, most textbooks are expensive! If one student has 5 classes and each book is an average of $100, it would be the same as spending $500 on an iPad, it a Kindle which is even cheaper!

Then again, there is so much politics and policy involved that I see it as a major challenge in education. However, it will be a wonderful day when technology is in every classroom.

Week 3 Post

This weeks presentation was very interesting and informative. The portion that stood out to me the most was the part about FaceBook and being careful about what you post. This has always been something that has scared me A LOT! When I first started using FaceBook, I felt as though it was a virtual representation of myself- the good, the bad, and the ugly. Looking at my FaceBook account during its first few months live, it was a definite reflection of that. However, the first time I herd anything about "watch what you post, employers are looking," I was scared to death! Sitting in the seminar a few years ago, I can vividly remember thinking of the status that I had posted that probably should not have been posted.

It took my almost 4 hours to go back through several months on my account and delete every single post, untag every picture, and "clean-up" my FaceBook account. However, after it was squeaky clean, I remember breathing a sigh of relief as if a weight was now lifted off my shoulders. Luckily this was second semester my freshman year of college. Ever since then I have been very cautious about what I post.

Unfortunately, this is FaceBook is not the only place I need to be cautious of what I post. Being a leader is like living in a fish bowl. Even more so, being a teacher. I feel as though I will have no privacy because I feel that way now in college. Also being a student leader, I am constantly being watched and my every move is reported back to people on campus. I do not like that I cannot enjoy my college life without being overly concerned with how I carry myself if public and private. However I do understand that with being in my position, it comes with the territory. Yet I did not expect it to come so soon.  When I became a "student leader" I did not know I would now be living in a fish bowl. Its something I think about often but try not to let it deter me from my goals. I want to be a role model, be someone people can look up to, but I always want to have a life free from worrying about what people are going to think about my actions. I trust and believe one day I will find a happy medium. 

Nevertheless, if this is what comes with successful, role model people look up to, I think I can accept that.

The Mind Set List

The Mind Set list I thought was very creative and useful reflective tool for students to look at when entering college. When I looked at the class of 2012, my class, it made me laugh at some of the things on the list and brought back many memories for me as a young child. For example, looking for Carmen Sandiago was on the list and I can clearly remember this from my childhood.

It also taught me some things about my generation that I did not realize such as IBM never made typewriters? Yeah… I did now know that and with a quick search in Google, apparently they did. The list is very comical and informational at the same time. I looked at the class of 2015 and some of their items on the list are how technology today is “too slow” and email is like “snail mail.” These are all things I definitely see in the incoming class of students who are now in college. Being involved on campus I can see some how this list was composed and how many items do hold true. It is also striking that only 4 years ago, for my class, the list was totally different.

I feel information like this will help me greatly as a teacher because it will allow me to see the generational difference that can occur with just one year. Every year the students will get that much father away from my age and become that much more immersed into the culture of them. This activity was very useful in making it visually relevant to how much the world of technology is changing around us.

First Day in TEP 305

Today is the first day in TEP 305! I absolutley LOVE my teaching classes and I think this one will be very fun and interactive! There is also no text book for this class, which means I can save some money and no weekly readings!!

I hope this is another great semester!