Blog Post Assignment 3

Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today
The video was interesting in a way that it showed things we already knew, but all in a five minute time frame. I spent $188 on my books this year, and if I would have went to the universities book store at school , I would have spent about $400. Yes, some books are $100 a piece like the video showed, but there are other ways of procuring these books in a cheaper way. You can rent the books, or buy them on Amazon for way cheaper then what they are in the book store, so I think the video may have over reacted about the books. In college you learn with time how to make certain things last longer, or certain things cheaper. Whether the books are opened when you get them, is a different story. At least half of the teachers I have had have given you all the information in your notes, so you end up not having to have to book anyways!
I think the video did appropriately describe how we college students have to manage our time. The girl that held the sign saying she gets to sleep 7 hours a night sure is a lucky one! It seems like we never have enough time to get everything done, especially if you work almost full time like I do. The movie did a good job of showing someone what is like to be in college if they have never been there, but I would have added how much the average college student parties on a daily or weekly basis. Most college students are experiencing their first taste of freedom, and many of them are listening to that 2.5 hours of music everyday when they are at a party!

"Its Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines
I think the point Mrs. Hines is making here is teachers have to be learners, and if the teacher in question is not a learner, they will have a classroom of the past and not the future. I think the teachers that are taught to be learners today, are the teachers that are in college now. I can't tell you how many teachers I noticed in high school that knew that since they had their tenure, or their degree, they wouldn't be pushed into giving more then they had to. Maybe it because I knew I wanted to be a teacher at a young age, but I always evaluated my teachers, how they taught, and their attitude. Simply going to workshops isn't enough, you have to learn things independently and care about your students as individuals. I really liked when Mrs. Hines mentioned you have to know where your students come from. That doesn't have to be some big task where you find out your students histories, it can be something like getting to know them and how each of them like to learn. I think it can be one of the great joys of teaching your students. Everyone has a few teachers that stood out to them in high school, and shouldn't we want to be that teacher?
I mentioned smartboards in my blogs before, and Mrs. Hines mentions it in hers. Mrs. Hines and I are on the same page about these smartboards. They are completely amazing, but I can see why a school board would not want to spend $5000 on something that will never be used. Maybe the school board should just ask the teachers if they will be used in their classroom before installing them. But would that solve the problem of them being used correctly? In her part about the smartboard she says, "It is not about on the board. It is about the proper training and mindset of a teacher who is already willing and eager to do amazing things." I think that teacher is the teacher we are training now to be in EDM 310. This class is meant to teach us about technology, and to make us excited about learning new technology in the future. Maybe not all students come out of EDM 310 with that mindset Mrs. Hines speaks of, but I plan to!

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?
Is it okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher? Of course not! If generations to come have to be technologically literate to obtain a job, and we are shaping the minds of generations to come, then it is our responsibility to know about technology. Why is it so hard for teachers to get their mind around the idea? It is fairly obvious teachers do not choose their career for the pay, and I highly doubt it is to have their summer months off as well, because they will still have to deal with children all day, and that is NOT everyone's forte. So teachers should choose to teach because they are PASSIONATE about it. Don't people in general try to learn everything they possibly can about something they are passionate about? So whats the problem? Maybe teachers are somewhat resentful towards the system for a certain number of things, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't try to do their job to the fullest.
Karl Fisch's colleagues get angry at his posts because they know what he is speaking is the truth. Everything he makes in his post is valid. The standard he speaks of where people think it is okay that they never were good at math is a sad one. Where in time did it become okay to say I wasn't good at math, but it not be okay to say I wasn't good at reading? These two subjects are things that will always be imperative to learning, and being a well rounded individual. What happened? It seems to me that all we can do, is do the best we can in our own classroom, so that when we look at the students we taught over the years, we will have no regrets. We will know that we did the best we could with what we were given. With new things in technology being discovered everyday, we could be given so much.

Gary's Social Media Account
Wow these numbers change fast! I think that with so many new people using these things everyday, there will be more people to connect with when I am a teacher. Many of these things, like people sending Facebook gifts, and getting a Twitter account are just social explorations, but it just proves how the need to connect with others around the world is growing and becoming more important.
Just being on Gary's page for 5 minutes, 101 hours of YouTube has been downloaded. I wonder how many of those videos I could show my students when I am teaching them about DNA and other things. The idea excites me!  If one of my students is a more visual learner, after I teach my lesson I can show them a video explaining my lesson further. 30 years ago, a student who was a visual learner would have possibly failed school. We have improved in that way, which is encouraging for future teachers like me to know.