Blog Assignment 3

A Vision of Students Today

I thought this video had an eerie vibe to it. The music made it kind of creepy and the "not so steady" hand on the camera made it seem somewhat of a whirlwind. I feel as if I had so much information thrown at me but it was definitely not the first I have thought about some of the information. The video overall is pretty accurate. I have felt for a long time that sitting in a classroom and reading or writing papers is not going to make me an effective teacher one day. I believe that in order to learn as a student you must learn by doing. I truly believe in learning what you are studying by actually doing it! For example, I am planning on becoming an elementary teacher. I feel as if I will learn the most about my profession by being in a classroom with a teacher and learning from experiences. Now, I understand that we need to take certain classes and complete certain things but being lectured and lectured and lectured most likely isn't going to help us all that much.

All of the statements that the students in the lecture held up were mostly true. Me, personally I have only had three "lecture hall" classes of 100 students or more and I have been in college for 6 semesters. But I am aware that a lot of students experience the lecture hall classroom setting. In most of my classes my professors have not just written on the chalkboard. A lot of my professors use/used PowerPoint, videos, charts, animations, and other tools to teach the material. It is also so true about teachers not knowing students names. For me, the only teachers that have known my name are my education teachers. My education professors always have made it a point to know me and put a name with my face. Unfortunately I cannot say that for most of my other general ed. classes.(but I do understand that the teachers meet a lot of students and try to remember a lot of names). That statements that were made in this video are mostly true to my college experience. I would have to say that one of the only things that doesn't really relate to my college experience as a student is having huge numbers of students in my classroom.

Currently I have been experiencing some issues with a professor who is unwilling to help me with my work (not an education course) and it is really upsetting me. I would add this kind of information to the movie to represent my college experience as a student. I strongly believe that teachers should want their students to learn and do everything they are able to do to make sure their class learns. My teacher right now is "shooing" me away and does not want to help me learn the material. I know that I am not the only student this is happening to, and I think it needs to be resolved for all students. The video covered what my experience is like in almost every way, except it left out this. So if I were producer I would add unwilling professors to the video.

It's Not About the Technology

After reading this post by Kelly Hines, it made me confused in what I believe in. Everything that Mrs. Hines stated in her post totally made sense to me and made me think that it is not about the technology. Then agian on the other hand I have all these thoughts and ideas about how IT IS ALL about the technology. Then, when I take a second and think about both arguments I come to find that there is a happy medium. Mrs. Hines also agrees that there should be all kinds of teaching skills in the classroom, not technology alone and not "books" alone.

I completely love the statement that Mrs. Hines says in her post "technology is useless without good teaching". SO TRUE! You may have all the recent technology and high tech machinery in your classroom, however if you do not know how to teach with it, the equipment is useless. It is so important for teachers to be trained on the equipment they are using in order to have their students learn from them. I also love "learning is not the same as teaching". These words are like a lightbulb turning on in my head. You can teach and teach material to children but you did not successfully teach them if they do not learn it. Learning can be defined as the act or process of acquiring knowledge or skill. Students must learn the material, which goes back to learning and teaching go hand in hand.

Overall this post had great points and really made me see both the good and bad of using technology to teach. If you know how to use the technology to teach you will have students who have learned the material. Incorporating technology in teaching is very important but that is not what teaching is all about.

Is It Okay To Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

Mr. Fisch has a very good point throughout this post. I will say it was a little hard to follow at first but I caught on as a kept reading. Before I read this I asked myself the question 'is it okay to be a technologically illiterate teacher?'. My answer to this question is NO, teachers need to be technologically literate.

I agree with the post of Mr. Fisch. My favorite thing that he says in his post is the very last part "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." This quote really puts the importance of being a technologically literate teacher into perspective. It helped me look at the situation in a totally different light. I could not have said it better. Mr. Fisch knows what he is talking about when it comes to being technologically literate as a teacher.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count

The changes that occuring in this media count are mind blowing. It is hard for me to wrap my brain around the information. I am not sure if I can even comprehend those numbers so quickly! The changes in this media count mean so many things for my career as a teacher. It means that technology is growing at a faster rate than most of us can imagine. It means that new things are being created every second, every minute, every hour, every day, every month, every year and so on. This media count means that for my professional career I will need to be technologically literate in order to be up to date with my teaching and just in order to live in the 21st century. This media count just changed a lot of aspects in my professional career along with many other students future careers. This is proof that times are changing!