Today's assignment is to go back to the Fischbowl again and read another one of his blog entries. I chose the one called Why Wireless? Its the November one. He talks about how his school recently opened up wireless internet campus wide and the pros and cons of that.
I think it's great I mean, it's not like the students can use the internet to go on anything inappropriate since I'm sure those sites are blocked. And if the kids aren't gonna pay attention, then they're not gonna pay attention regardless. The internet isn't gonna help or hurt that. I think that in the near future everywhere is gonna be wireless. Our campus is wireless and a lot of us have cell phones and other devices that can access it, but we are all mature enough to pay atention in class, or we have to deal with the personal consequences, those kids can too.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Last Semester Student blogs
Today's assignment was to listen to two student group podcasts from last semester and then decide how they could be improved. The first one that I listened to was Possibilities for Using Facebook in an Educational Setting and my second one was My classes at South and how techonlogy is used in them.
Overall, I was impressed by the podcasts. They didn't suck, Dr Strange introduced them well and probably the only thing that I would improve would be to use pictures to illistrate the points better, and well now they need updating because some people have more technology than others in the classroom.
Overall, I was impressed by the podcasts. They didn't suck, Dr Strange introduced them well and probably the only thing that I would improve would be to use pictures to illistrate the points better, and well now they need updating because some people have more technology than others in the classroom.
Technologially Iliterate?
Todays assignment is to go back to the Fischbowl and read some September blogs from a guy named Karl Fisch. He's a teacher and "technology expert" at a high school in Colorado. I really dont like this guy and disagree with a lot of his arrogant statements. If he's an expert then why is he teaching high school again? Its obvious that he thinks he's so much cooler and better than other teacher just beacuse he might can work Google better or he has an iPhone, but really in reality he's just a TEACHER, he aint Steve Jobs or that Woz.
This Karl Fisch guy is making some very bold statements about teachers being technologically illiterate. At one point he even said that its like not being able to read and write which I disagree with totally. He says that teachers need to keep up with the times so to speak. I do agree that some teachers are out of touch with technology and that the latest technology possible should be used to teach our students though.
This Karl Fisch guy is making some very bold statements about teachers being technologically illiterate. At one point he even said that its like not being able to read and write which I disagree with totally. He says that teachers need to keep up with the times so to speak. I do agree that some teachers are out of touch with technology and that the latest technology possible should be used to teach our students though.
Podcasts?
This week I had to look at podcast, which are another very popular communication tool. I had heard of podcast, but had never actually listened to one before today.
The first podcast I chose to listen to was called the Kid Cast. It was called The Medium Isn't the Message. It was basically saying that it's one thing to learn a podcast, but the end goal is to use them effectively. He said that teachers just kinda use them to give assignments, not to communicate.
The second one I checked out was call EdTechtalk. It was just like a morning radio show, where they do the segment and have people call in, except it was people typing in a chat room, which was really cool to me. They talked about a conference that they had gone to, and some other stuff tht was uninteresting to me, but the cool part was how everybody was communicating.
The third podcast that I checked out was This week in photography. It was interactive as well, and they talked about photography stuff, which was not interesting to me at all, I remember them talking about how film companies like Canon are going outta business now with all the digital photography.
My fourth podcast was something that I cared about. It was ESPN's podcast of their program PTI in which two sports analysts discuss current events in the sports world. I was impressed by the amount of podcasts that ESPN had in their "Podcenter" on espn.com. I subscribed to a couple of them.
The first podcast I chose to listen to was called the Kid Cast. It was called The Medium Isn't the Message. It was basically saying that it's one thing to learn a podcast, but the end goal is to use them effectively. He said that teachers just kinda use them to give assignments, not to communicate.
The second one I checked out was call EdTechtalk. It was just like a morning radio show, where they do the segment and have people call in, except it was people typing in a chat room, which was really cool to me. They talked about a conference that they had gone to, and some other stuff tht was uninteresting to me, but the cool part was how everybody was communicating.
The third podcast that I checked out was This week in photography. It was interactive as well, and they talked about photography stuff, which was not interesting to me at all, I remember them talking about how film companies like Canon are going outta business now with all the digital photography.
My fourth podcast was something that I cared about. It was ESPN's podcast of their program PTI in which two sports analysts discuss current events in the sports world. I was impressed by the amount of podcasts that ESPN had in their "Podcenter" on espn.com. I subscribed to a couple of them.
February 1 Post 2
It took me a while to find an international class blog but I finally found one from a Jody Hayes in New Zealand at http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1638 . They are a class of 9-11 year old children. They appear to be very into leadership and ding community service projects, which is very cool. They also do art and she post almost everything they do on the blog.
Luckily, a link from Ms. Hayes blog led me to a blog of a Kathy Cassidy at http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1337. The kids write blog entries and there's even an app on the blog to let you talk to them, like actually talk by a microphone. That's amazing to me. There's also a video of the kids playing outside in the snow. I had no idea that blogs were becoming so popular in the classroom, especially overseas. Its also great that teachers are communicating with other teachers overseas and sharing things.
February 1 Blog Post 1
I looked on the internet for teachers using blogs and the first that I found was Mary Kruel's class blog at http://marykreul.teacherhosting.com/blog/. It is very well done. She uses the blog s a chance for students to write about what is happening in the classroom. Everyday someone writes, is edited and published. Parents can read what is happening in the classroom.
The Next blog I found was from a lady named Mrs. Perry's fourth grade blog at http://mrsperrysblogarchive1.blogspot.com/. It is very well done and is used to show parents what the kids have done in class, as well as projects and to give the kids work assignments in case they miss class.
Overall, these blogs are very well done and I can definately see blogging becoming more popular in classrooms, but they seem like a lot of work for the teacher.
The Next blog I found was from a lady named Mrs. Perry's fourth grade blog at http://mrsperrysblogarchive1.blogspot.com/. It is very well done and is used to show parents what the kids have done in class, as well as projects and to give the kids work assignments in case they miss class.
Overall, these blogs are very well done and I can definately see blogging becoming more popular in classrooms, but they seem like a lot of work for the teacher.
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