Blog Post #5

Scott McLeod

In Mr. McLeod's blog post, he is telling people to keep children away from the computer and cellphones. He does mention sexting, cyber bullies, and porn. However, at the end he says that his kids that use technology will be ahead of everyone else's. About midways through Mr. McLeod's blog post, I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or not. However, it is very clear at the end where he stands on the issue. In my comment that I left for him I said that there's no way that parents, teachers, and etcetera can keep children away from the evil in this world. Even without technology there are bad things occurred. Children are having kids, there are still bullies in school, and creepy members in the family are still molesting. The best thing to do in this situation is to encourage technology use but with caution. I believe if we educate them on the cause and effects of the choices they make on the web, they will make decisions that they won't regret later.


Travis Allen

In the first video, Travis Allen speaks about his idea about using the itouch in school. The itouch replaces textbooks, maps, paper, writing utensils, and much more! In the second video, It shows Travis three years later and what all was accomplished with his ischool idea so far. While watching Travis's first video, I was thinking that instead of the itouch, the school should have a class set of the ipad because the ipad has a bigger screen. I was glad to see that in the second video, children were doing math on a tablet.
I thought that Travis's idea was really bold and smart. I thoroughly enjoyed his presentation and agree with what he said. Hopefully, text book companies won't try to make schools buy new editions every two years like they make college students. It's wonderful that the school would save a lot because of the savings from not using ink, paper, crayons, and ectetera. Maybe some of that money can go towards the underpaid teachers ; )
There are so many different ways the classroom could be improved just by this idea of Travis's. Like the idea about using podcasts so that students can see what happened in class if they missed. If a teacher had to miss a day, who needs a sub? She can just skype with her students in the classroom. I'm sure there are several more creative ideas out there for the ischool. It would be fun to teach with the limitless ideas!

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir - 'Lux Aurumque'

What a wonderful experience! In this video, there were almost 200 choir participants singing from their personal computers! Even the conductor was there virtually. They sang a beautiful Latin song without flaw. Better yet, they never even met or practiced in person! I actually sang that song in my choir at Faulkner State Community College. Singing virtually makes rehearsing a lot easier in some ways because of travel and time issues. Technology is pretty cool : )

Teaching 21st Century Students

First, I must say that this video was a little too long and busy to me, but it was still beneficial. I agree with the idea that teachers can help the students skills when it comes to accessing the internet. However, I think some subjects like math should still be taught personally. Some of these ideas might be a little too advanced for the grade levels that I plan to teach. Also, some things like Twitter seem irrelevant or not as important to a lot of careers.
Different materials for education were compared-paper vs. technology. Also the concept of engagement vs. entertainment. This video seems to go well with the technology theme for this class. I think this new concept will be ingrained in my brain.

Reading Rockets

This educational website seems to be very useful for teachers, students, and principals, and librarians. However, it's main audience appears to be teachers. The website is easy to use and has many teaching/learning strategies and tools for reading. I will definitely take this website into consideration for my teaching career!
The ABC's of Teaching Reading will be great to starters. If there are still students struggling then the Helping Struggling Readers tab should be beneficial. If I needed any ideas for reading materials then I could click of the Children's Books and Authors tab. This website is great for all stages of reading!