Blog Post #5

Scott McLeod
Dr. Scott McLeod is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Kentucky and is the Founding Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE). In his blog post Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?, he discusses the reasons why people don't want kids to learn about technology and why they are wrong. I agree that technology is a vital tool that children need for success in the future. It is becoming a large part of our society and that will only increase. The integration of technology into the classroom as enhanced the learning process as well as prepared the children for the future. It has allowed them to connect with other students and learn from others around the world. We must, however, teach our children the positive and negatives things about the internet to help them stay on track .It is our responsibility to equip them with the knowledge and resources to utilize technology in a beneficial and positive way.

Travis Allen and the iSchool Initiative
Travis Allen founded the iSchool Initiative with the vision of revolutionizing the education system today. In the first video he presents the idea for his program that he developed in High School, while the second video was made later on after his initiative had been put into action. He and a team of other students are working to spread their idea of using iPod's in school as the main tool for books, notes, grades and other various things. They travel the country encouraging schools to become apart of the initiative. Their mission is to cut down on costs for the education system and help the environment in the process. This initiative as even gone international and many schools have signed on to be apart of the change in education and the technology of the future.
I think that they have a good idea which can be appealing to many school systems as well as parents. If implemented correctly it could be very effective in helping the education system. This process however would need to be completely funded by the schools because there are lots of students who would not be able to afford them. If used incorrectly I feel like this could take a way from the student teacher relationship that is also a vital part of the learning environment. This is a good idea and if it can integrated successfully into the classroom I can see it becoming a major part of the education of the future.

Virtual Choir
A choir of 185 people from around the world are conducted by Eric Whitacre and sing Lux Aurumque. These people have never met or performed together before. By the use of technology and the internet all these voices are brought together to produce a beautiful piece of music. This shows the value and endless capabilities of technology. There are so many new and exciting things being done today using technology. Though there a some negatives, there are way more positive things that are possible. Technology is ever changing and becoming more integrated into society and we can chose to embrace it by using it for wonderful things such as this video.

Teaching in the 21st Century
In this video, Kevin Roberts is discussing what it means to teach in the 21st century. Today information and facts are much more accessible to student through websites such as Google, Wikipedia, and various blogs. They can find anything at anytime. This has made the teacher to be more of a filter rather than the main source of knowledge. Teachers need to teach skills and the application of them. Learning how to effectively use resources like Google is also important. We need to engage to the students rather then entertain them. It as about having them use their own creativity to learn and apply the facts and content.

I agree that this is the direction Education is going. As teachers our responsibility is to help them learn about technology and the effective way to use it. We need to continue to learn effective of ways of teaching students how to apply what they learn and engage them in the thought process. One thing that he said that stood out to me was, "tools provide temptation but are not the source of negative behavior." We often tend to think that technology can be the source of distractions, when in reality those will be there no matter what. This is not an excuse to hold back the advancement of technology in the classroom. As a future educator this will effect the way I teach and the content I focus on in the classroom. It will be more about the application of various skills, rather then just facts and information.

Reading Rockets
This website provides lots of information and resources to help teachers as well as parents. There is a whole section with several different resources for first-year teachers. Statistics say that many teachers don't come back after their first year and these are some valuable tools to get you started and help you along the way. This I feel will help me to learn from my experiences and become the best teacher. It also shows you how to be effective in the classroom and not get discouraged.

There is also a section on how to create a literacy rich classroom. This includes strategies, materials, and plans for effective integration into the classroom. It helps guide you in making literacy an important part of your students learning process which will help them to be more successful. This helps teachers to gain knowledge from others ideas about effective teaching methods in the classroom. Learning from each others experiences as Educators can be a vital part of a teachers success in their own classroom.