Blog Post #5

Don't teach your kids this stuff. Please?

This is sort of a poem by Scott McLeod that tells you mainly good reasons on why not to let your kids on the internet. At the end it states that if you listen to what I just said than my kids I teach will get the leg up. Scott Mcleod  is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Kentucky. He is frequent blogger and someone that is admits our project in EDM310. 


 I am half and half on this argument. I believe that there are many reasons to keep children restrained when it comes to being on the internet. It can be a dangerous place and any child left unattended with free roam with no guidelines can get hurt. I do however feel like children do need access to the internet. They can see far away places such as seeing Broadway without being in New York. They can talk to people in different countries. They can create so much, and do so much more. The possibilities are endless. 
The iSchool Initiative / Zeitgeistyoungminds

This video was created by a high schooler named Travis Allen. The video tells about how the traditional classroom can go completely digital. In the video it tells how the itouch can change the way a classroom functions. The itouch is an Apple product that is virtually in a way a tiny computer that has a touch screen. On it you can buy things called applications that are basically programs. In the video he gives a long list of apps that would be beneficial in the classroom: email, Chemical Touch, U.S constitution, World Wiki, US, presidents, Starwalk,  Formulae, Recorder, Scientific and graphing calculator, Notes, Calender, Classics, and iHW. All of these apps can allow you to essentially have the classroom in your hands at all times. The second video is essentially a commercial stating what the iSchool initiative is and that you should join.  


I was beyond fascinated when I watched this video. It inspires me to want an iSchool classroom. I can only imagine the impact this would have on my students and the things we can learn and discover. I really hope by the time I am a certified teacher that this will be in place in my future school. I see no faults in doing this. I only see the many benefits it can provide. I feel that if this does take hold then many more teachers can be hired and class sizes can be lowered. I think our administrators need to get on the ball and adopt this idea. 


Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

This is a video of many videos of people from all walks of life singing together. Everything is done Virtually. I found myself to be pretty apprehensive about this. Somewhere inside me kind of doubts that this is possible. The sound sounds like a choir put together on one stage. I feel like it is very possible that it could happen given the amount of technology out there but then again being in band my whole life I know that a wonderful sound doesn't come the first time around. It is very rare for any form of art to be able to get together and create an epic sound on the first go. I do however feel like maybe the singers sounds may have been altered so that it all fits together well. I love this creation and shows that anything can be created.


Teaching in the 21st Century

This is a Prezi turned video that goes over what it is to teach students in the 21st century and brings up some nifty questions. It talks about how students have access to any information via the internet and how as teachers we need to approach it. It lists Bloom's Taxonomy and at the very top is create but where does things like blogging fit into Bloom's Taxonomy. It lists tons of things you can do on the world wide web. There are so many lessons that can be built, things created, and things to explore. It mentions many things that I myself need to explore and become familiar with.

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Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets is a website dedicated to "teaching kids to read and helping those that struggle".  It contains information for parents, teachers, librarians, principals, and even other professionals. The site even comes in Spanish. It has outsources in Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and contains podcasts. "It contains a wealth of reading strategies, lessons, and activities to help young children to read and read better."

I decided to further research (under the teachers tab) classroom strategies: vocabulary. It offered many suggestions such as word walls and word hunts. On the site it gives a chart stating when you can do this activity either before reading, during reading, or after reading. I found this very helpful. Even more helpful is when you click on an activity it shows a new chart with the same information but also with whether this activity can be used solo, in a group, or as a class whole. It lists the activity, gives you a small example, tells you why to use it, how to use it, examples in all subjects, books to use with this activity, and even resources to back up the activity. I feel like they really used their resources and the site is well thought out and put together. I will definitely come back to it when I am in my own classroom.