Blog Post #5

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?
Mr. McLeod made great points in this post about the dangers of technology with children. It is very sad how the same thing that can be used to help children perform better academically (technology) can be used for other non-childlike purposes. Even though the web, social networking and anything else dealing with the internet in technology can be used out of context, it also has its advantages, especially when it comes to improving a child academically. Due to this very reason is why it is so very important for us as future educators to guide our students and to teach them the correct way to use technology.

The iSchool Initiative
Travis Allen really caught my attention with this video. I have always said that technology changes everyday but I would have never thought of iSchool. There was literally an app for every subject. Not only were there apps for every subject, but also an app for simply taking notes for the student and taking attendance for the teacher!
The iSchool will give the student a chance to save his/her money. With every necessity of school in the palm of your hand, there would not be a need to buy expensive supplies such as a graphing calculator, books, globes, etc. The part of the video that really caught me by surprise, was the expenses that would be saved purchasing an iSchool. A student can save up to $600 and spend $150 on the iSchool. You would think the iSchool would be very expensive with all of its features, but surprisingly not. The iSchool has my vote!

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
I was in complete amazement as I watched this video! I have never seen anything like this before! This video was absolutely breath taking and beautiful. How amazing is it that none of those people were in the same room, yet they all created such an awesome sound? "Wow!" was the first word that came to my mind. Once again, this video shows how technology can be used in so many different aspects.

Teaching in the 21st Century
In my opinion, what it means to teach to Kevin Robert is for students to ACTUALLY learn instead of using Google or Facebook for everything. True enough, those tools are very helpful but I have to agree with Kevin; learning is more than just reciting the information that is thrown to you. The information has to be embedded in you. There are certain lessons that I remember from Kindergarten and the reason for that is because my teacher instilled the lesson in my class. Of course we did not have all of the technological resources that are available now when I was in Kindergarten (or even middle school), but my point is that she taught us. There is a huge difference from teaching information versus throwing information. When a teacher teaches his/her class, they learn; when a teacher just gives information to the class, it is recited, not learned. That student has not gained anything from that "lesson". As a future educator, this video has shown me to actually teach (which I already knew) instead of just "giving" information out. My students will be depending on me to teach them and it is my job to make sure I do it correctly.

Reading Rockets
After doing some researching on this site, I absolutely adored the "Aesop's Quest" app. Since my heart is on teaching second grade, this app starts at the second grade level, which is awesome. This particular app allows students to remember certain parts of a story in order to complete the level that they are working on. At the end of the story, the student is awarded puzzle pieces. Once the student achieves this goal in the lesson, the next story begins and the student does the activity all over again. This app will be very beneficial for my class. I can easily put my class into groups and have a story assigned to each group. This would be so much fun!
The next app that I think would be great in my classroom, is the "Professor Garfield Fact or Opinion". Garfield has always made me laugh and I believe this would really catch my students attention. The Garfield app focuses on differentiating between facts and opinions. If a student answers a question on the app with a opinion instead of a fact, Garfield explains the difference and the child continues with the game.