PLN Project #2

This is my PLN. My Personal Learning Network system is very useful. I can click any of these icons and they will take me straight to where I want to go. I have a couple of icons that are educational. Like my Educational News icon, which updates me when any kind of news about the local school systems comes out. Also I have a icon for art. I love art and I am very interested in it, I figure if I am interested in this topic I should add it to list. The website I used it called Symbaloo. It is very easy to use and actually fun to get everything you like in one square.

Book Trailer project #12

Smart Board Project #14

Blog Post #9

Mr. McClung 1st Blog Post:

Mr. McClung has shared some good ideas on what it takes to be a good teacher and overcome obsticals as a starting out teacher in these two blog post May27,2009 What I've Learned This Year (2008-09) & June 15,2012 What I Learned This Year (2009-10). It sounds like, being that he was new, felt a lot of pressure and felt that all eyes were on him and that he had to prove himself early on. He states that he began to lose a connection with the students. He became too focused on himself and missed the overall picture, teaching. This is understandable, because as a new teacher, I could see that there is a lot of pressure to perform.

Even teacher make mistakes, Mr. McClung makes this clear. Not every lesson will be a perfect lesson, but you can always build on it from feedback from students or grades, and turn it into something better next time.

Everyone wants to avoid confrontation in the work place but we all know that will never happen. We as teachers must work to promote synergy in the work place. Having good relationships with fellow teachers can lead to a more productive year and a better atmosphere.

It is apparent that Mr. McClung has connected with his students more as he’s matured as a teacher. He admits that he had too high expectations that proved to be unattainable. I believe that as teachers we all want our students to perform at their optimal level but in reality, that just doesn’t always happen.

I agree with using technology one hundred percent. Technology has exploded in recent years and has no end in sight. Laptops are on almost every desk now. We as teachers must learn to master this technology so we can implement it in the class rooms effectively. Such as slide shows to more advanced things like computer aided design.

Communication with students is important. Mr. McClung says that one student wrote him saying, I feel the teacher cares about me as a person when he listens to me as a person. We can all learn something from this because at one time or another we have all felt ignored and overlooked by some teachers. That leads to discouragement which is very counterproductive, and will ultimately leave the student feeling like they are less than adequate.

I found it amusing and interesting that he finds what he calls a “School Mom” that basically lets him under her wing while he adjusts to the junior high setting. I think a lot can be said for finding a mentor and this circle’s back to having good relationships with your fellow teachers.

The scope and sequence portion of his post also struck a nerve with me, because I too believe that I focus more time and energy on  the subjects that interest me as opposed to being more well rounded.

Mr. McClung makes a good point about never stop learning. The students never stop learning so why should we as teachers? We don’t know everything. Our credibility as teachers is based solely on the fact that we know more than the students themselves. Therefore we owe it to them to continue learning and growing as people ourselves.

 

Project #8 group podcast

C4K Project #7

Summary for Month of September/ October

C4K #1
Bishop W. he wrote a story about a champion relay team. I commented on it and said that he has good reading skills and his video impressed me.

C4K #2

Lara a 4th grader wrote how she loved playing tennis. I wrote back to her and tried to inspire her to keep with it. I told her how she should think about getting on a team and one day she could get a scholarship at a college. I reminded her that she needs to always dream big and stay with it.

C4K #4
I had a classroom blog for Mike & the Upper Episcopal School. He talked about how young people have lost interest in voting. These days young people do not vote at all.
I commented on this blog and this is what I said:

it scares me that people my age take voting so lightly. That is our job as a US citizen, its our only say so that we have in this country. Why would you not want to vote? I think your post is very educational and eye opening. I actually have heard that more people vote for American idol than they actually vote for the president. This is sad.

C4K #6
Ethan made a Animoto video about nature. And I wrote this:Hi Ethan,
My name is Kayla Szymanski and I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am taking EDM310 and I was assigned to your blog. I loved your Animoto, the pictures were so pretty. Did you take those pictures yourself? I love nature, it is so beautiul to me. Also I liked how to music made the video flow. Very nicely done.

C4K #8
I was assigned to Amber A's blog post. And this is what I said.
Hi Amber, I am a student at the University of South Alabama and I have been assigned your blog. I loved reading about your dancing and family. It really took me back in time. I also come from a big family and I have two older sisters and and older cousin. We used to put on dance shows also. That is to this day some of the best memories I have. I think it's awesome that you and your cousin stuck with it. Keep dancing you never know, maybe you can try out for a team one day.
I really enjoyed reading this blog, it brought back memories.

C4K #10
During this comment for kids I watched a video made by a 4th grade class about Rosa Parks. All the kids made a slide show type video and they said stuff in the background. It was very interesting and it seemed like the kids enjoyed doing it.
I said this:
Hi! I am a student at the University of South Alabama where I am taking EDM310 and was assigned this blog by my teacher. I enjoyed the Rosa Parks video done by the kids. It seemed like they really enjoyed theirselves making it. I am so impressed by the 4th grade skills they have in making a video with sound and technology.

Blog Post #8

This Is How We Dream  Parts 1 and 2
By: Richard Miller

Mr. Miller talks about amazing technology in these two videos#2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KsEQnOkTZ0During and #1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHvoBPjhsBA. In this video Richard Miller talked about technology that I had no idea even existed. He says that he can tell which city is the happiest just by looking at the  computer. He also brings up the building that he works at, the screen shows a building rotating. He says that the future can only be a bright one if it is shared through the people who work in the sciences.

He goes on to say that the goal of this technology is to be able to share it with others. We cant make our dreams visible unless we have this kind of technology. We no longer take our books and pencils to work, now its laptops and kindles. This technology is very efficient, and I hope one day I can be better at using and understanding these things. If you can understand technology I think that it could be your new best friend.

You can find anything you need on the web. You may need to see a lecture as a example so that you can make a lecture just like it. Or maybe you need to be more informed of historic events, you can look at teachers teaching it. This kind of thing it very useful for teachers and students in the classroom. All of this information is available on the web. We all need to be aware of new technology so that we can share it with our kids.

EDM310 is Different

I loved the EDM310 for Dummies video it was very humorous. And almost true, I could relate to it. I would like to be able to create one of these videos for future students. I find that it would be so much help if a student could sit down and explain how to keep your grade up in this class. I really liked the music and the way that it starts out with the screeching music. It then shows the students with everything under control and the music is light and care free. The students are very happy with what they have accomplished. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqhMRj-Ne38 This is a very good video, I wish I would have known about the EDM310 for Dummies book sooner!

Learn to Change, Change to Learn

If you watch this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tahTKdEUAPk you will see that our future in education is very important! I felt so bad when I watched this video. I really did not notice how bad education has gotten. School is so out of date, and all of this technology is available. It makes me sick that its all available and its not being used. Students should be able to use things that they use everyday, instead they get these things taken away during class. This makes me want to have a very technological classroom. We need to open the door to labs and things being developed on the web. It could make students better prepared for college too. So many teachers now days do not care, as long as they get a paycheck. They are lazy, I will not be a teacher that is lazy. My kids will always have the best and the latest technology on hands.

Scavenger Hunt 2.0

1. I found a site called Edmodo.com. This site is just like facebook. It is set up almost exactly the same way. I made a teacher account and when I played with my page for awhile it was quite fun. My profile name is Ms.Szymanski which sounds and looks more professional than a regular facebook name.Its really cool you can post assignments and their due dates, and the kids will get them just like a notification on facebook. Also if you have some kids that are not doing the assignment or were not assigned it, you can specifically pick your students you would like to send it to. I think this is definitely something that I will use in my classroom. All of my kids can then always have their assignments. No more excuses about missed homework assignments because the student did not write it down it Will be via web available.
2.Next I saw Prezi.com and got all of their pricing. You can click here to view pricing:http://prezi.com/pricing/. You can choose different types of accounts. The more money you pay the more space you have an things like that. Anyone can have an account for free though it will just come with the basic stuff. Students and teachers get these deals:Prezi teacher & student deals.
3.)I made my comic strip at Stripcreator.com.

Comic strip!! by kaykay1021 10-13-12 Happy Halloween! Um, its September.. I only have 3 months to get out of here! I love turkey during Thanksgiving:) This is top secret I didn't even ask?

4.)I visited Animoto.com and saw that it was very useful. This site allows you to use tools such as high definition and cinematic technology in your slide shows. This website allows you to take pictures straight from your computer,facebook,flicker, and instagram. These days everybody has sort of a web scrapbook. All pictures are now digitally uploaded and that's usually where they stay. This will help you extremely when it comes time to fine you pictures easily.
5.)I found a website called pollcode.com, at this site you can make polls for free. Here is a poll that I have created trying to figure out why so many kids drop out of college.

Why did you drop out of college?
	To exspensive
	Lazy
	To busy
	Family problems
	No drive
	Drugs/ alcohol abuse
	Classes were too hard
pollcode.com free

Project #9 A.TimeToast "AT&T Technology"

Blog Post #7

Video:The Networked Student
By: Wendy Drexler

       While watching this video it explains what is so important about blogging. It tells a story about a boy who is in this woman's class, and she makes them network with other students. This kind of learning is called connectivism, connectivism is a theory that presumes that learning occurs as part of a social network of many diverse connections and ties.
        The tools are not as important as the ties that come with is. Once you get a blog you can research other bloggers and get ideas. Any kind of networking system will be beneficial to students who are wanting to learn more. I also learned that on MP3 players they now have 1,000s of audio pod cast courses available from professors all over the world. That was very cool to know, it almost like you don't even need a college education anymore its all available on the web.
        The 21 century students network was a wide range of connections and each one was a new learning opportunity. But the reason you do need a teacher when doing this is so that the teacher can show you how to build your network. They also show you how to take advantaged of these great opportunities. Teachers can show you how to communicate properly, and offer you guidelines when you get stuck.
        While I am a teacher I plan to use the networking system because there are so many different opportunities that come with it. It really is amazing.


Video: A 7th Grader's Personal Learning Environment

This was very impressive, a 7th grade student gives a tour of her personal learning environment

A 7th grade student gives a tour of her personal learning environment. It was impressive the girl showed all of her work and said that her class was paperless. She also said that it beats book work because at the end you have something that everyone else on the web can see. Its like you get more for the work you put in. Just like this blog it shows how much work I have put into it and the entire Internet can see it.

Blog Post #6

By: Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

           As Randy begins his speech he introduces himself and then tells about his illness. He states how he is healthy as most normal people. He is in no way asking for people to feel sorry for him, to me he is just trying to live what he has left of his life normally as possible. He is a true jewel, I don't think I have ever listened to someone so inspiring in my whole life.
            He talks about his childhood dreams. To me childhood dreams are something that we should never let die. As we get older it seems that our dreams get smaller and smaller. When I am a teacher I would like to encourage my students to stick by their dreams, and to shoot for the stars. No matter how crazy in this world anything is possible.
            I love the way Mr. Pausch looks at certain things, he opens your eyes to his point of view. One thing that caught my attention was when he said, "If someone stops giving you advice altogether or stops offering you help then they have already given up on you." Many teachers that I have had in the past have done this, they give up and its very obvious. When I am a teacher I want to make sure that I focus to never give up on any of my students. Every student in my opinion deserve to have a fair chance to learn, even if they have learning difficulties.
             Following that I also agreed with his statement, "giving credit were credit is due." I believe that with all of my heart. So many times in my life I have showed my work expecting more then I got, and that feeling is the worst. When I teach and my students bring me a painting, or a drawing I want to make sure and give them credit. By doing this it will not only make their drive stronger but I think it will higher their self esteem.
              Lastly I would just like to say that Randy Pausch was truly a inspiration to me, he made me look at thinks differently. We are so worried all of the time about all the little things in life. Mr. Pausch explained that instead of worrying we should enjoy all the little things in life. If your kids wants to do something harmless like paint their own room, let them. Those little things in life that we would normally stress about we should cherish. This is what I have taken from his lecture and I plan to use everything I have stated in my future classroom.

C4C Project #4

Keiko Ito C4c #1
While commenting on Keiko's Blog I let her know that she needed to correct alot of her spelling errors, along with alot of run on sentences. She also needed to put the Author and link at the top of the post. Also on project #2 I told her to make her picture smaller so that it would fit better onto her blog.


Samuel Anderson's C4C #5
Here are some of the things that I agreed with him on.

When he said, "Nevertheless, I do not think we should do away with all of the traditional methods and depend on it alone for educating."
I completely agree with that, I feel like we do need to keep some of the traditional methods and not get completely away from teaching straight from the chalk board. 

I also agree with this sentence, "However, I still think some classes, courses, lessons, and etc. are taught better hands on. Examples include Physical Education, Health Education, Literature and etc. The reason I listed Physical education is because it is the education of, about, and through the physical." 

To me its nuts that kids are being taught physical education online. That does not help our state at all, we are the 2nd fattest state in the US. Our kids need the physical activity and to me the internet would not do it beneficial. 

C4C #6: Alecia Baxter

Alecia's blog was very impressive everything was in place and had links ect. I did notice one thing that caught my eye though. This is what I wrote:

Alecia,
Your blog is very good! Looks like you have everything under control, everything looks like its in place and rite.
I am not 100% positive but I think that you may need a comma in this sentence. "I know I can because I have already started to do so with my iPhone and Kindle Fire." I think it should be after the "I know I can, Because I have already started..

C4C #8 Bryonn Brye
While reading Bryonn's Blog I noticed a few errors:

In my classroom, students will defently have to learn method called multi-media or composing.
This should say: In my classroom, students will definitely have to learn methods..
Also I did not see any click able links, I made sure that I made Bryonn aware of this.


C4C #10 Taylor Davis
While reading Taylor's Special Blog Post I noticed this mistake:

When describing how Udacity is created, Merklein says that producers work to create special effects and to capture shots of lessons drawn on whiteboards while staff members design and assemble courses.

It should have a comma after whiteboards like this:

When describing how Udacity is created, Merklein says that producers work to create special effects and to capture shots of lessons drawn on whiteboards, while staff members design and assemble courses.

C4C #12 Rachael Gordon
While reading Rachael Gordon's Blog Post #12 This is what I said:
 I agree with Bailey, funbrain has some great games. I especially like the parent and child games, http://www.funbrain.com/brain/SweepsBrain/sweepsbrain.html (here is the link). These would be great to use in my classroom. Great post.

Project #5

Project #6 My Sentence Movie

Blog Post #5

Travis Allen

      This guy immediately just amazed me by the way he was speaking and teaching like he was already a teacher. He seemed so comfortable in front of his audience. He has opened the gateway for schools to have technology and use the Ipads. He was showing the teachers how he used his Ipad and made flash cards for each subject. He was very talented and I was very impressed.
       He also raised the bar for high school kids everywhere because if he can get up and teach that well and accomplish all that he has, it makes the high school kids of today look at them selves and say well what have I done. Maybe this will drive more students to try and achieve and excel in places where they are talented.



Eric's Virtual Choir
While watching Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir is was amazing how far our technology has come. He directed them as if they were all in the same room, how awesome. When I noticed that it was really people at home singing in their individual homes as a choir it was unbelievable. This choir sounds beautiful and in key, this was breath taking. Technology has come so far and I am just excited to be able to witness it. I am very glad I got to see this, I had no idea things like this even existed. Its crazy whats going on in the world and you don't even know about it.

Teaching in the 21st Century By: Kevin Roberts
       While watching this video I couldn't help but agree with Kevin. This video explains how important it is to teach kids how to use technology. It explains that simple questions could be answered if students or anyone knew how to use the web correctly. For example: Who should I vote for? My connecting flight was just canceled what do I do now? He simple states create ,evaluate, analyze, apply, understand and remember, these are the things that students should be doing. He says teaching in the 21st century means we need to rethink the tools we use and the types of problems we ask students to solve.
        I think that this video was very accurate so many people, like myself think that since we were born and raised in the millennium that we know computers and we don't. Teachers should incorporate things like blogs, twitter, and online activities so that when they are in college they will know everything. And it will be easy for students to learn these types of things when they have a teacher with them 5 days a week and they can ask questions and get answers rite then. I will definitely show my students how to use certain sites and search engines.

Why I flipped my classroom By: Katie Gimbar/ Flipping the classroom By: Ms. Munafo
While watching this video I learned why Katie flipped her classroom. She said she was teaching to the middle of the class, the students that could follow along with what they were doing while she had another group who were bored ready to move on , and another group who were struggling to understand. They weren't receiving enough content or help. This lead to 90% lecture trying to meet their needs, when they weren't being met. They talk about not having enough time to teach and get everyone on the same page. Since then she does a self based program online and they can work ahead or master things they don't know. I think that this is a very good idea, because I can relate to the kids who didn't get exactly what they needed. This is such a good opportunity for the students to be able to have a fair shot in getting their education.

Blog Post #4

Judy Scharf's Podcast Collection:
Judy Scharf's Podcast Collection is a simple information site for either someone wanting to produce a podcast or someone teaching a class to do one now. Ms. Scharf breaks down the process into sensible and easy to view sections. She provides links for instructional videos on both YouTube and TeacherTube that show how to do a podcast. All the Information on Ms. Scharf's Collection was very informative and helpful  to me a ton.


The Practical Principals with Melinda Miller and Scott Elias:
Melinda Miller and Scott Elias's Blog about Practical principals was simply information for someone who did not know how to set up a podcast. It shows you how to get started and what to do for each kind of software that you have. There are clickable links for you to click on so that you can know just exactly what they are trying to explain. It goes in depth if you keep scrolling down the blog.

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom By: Joe Dale
Joe Dale's Blog was set up to me perfect, right when you go to his blog there is a video you can watch about what the benefits are of a podcast. The first thing I did was watch the video. He states that the podcast can be heard anytime anywhere and that is the biggest benefit. Kids spend countless hours on computers, video games, and other types of electronic devices. This is why Joe says that podcast offers a new way to teach your kids to learn and have fun with it. Podcast projects allow students to show their creativity. Also if kids are sick they can stay home and still get lecture notes downloaded to their itunes as a podcast. This site was very informative and it does show the importance of a podcast.

While visiting and watching videos I have learned that podcast are very important in schools now days. Not only can kids listen to lectures on their ipods but they can also use this when they are home sick. This is almost like having a virtual teacher around 24/7. There are no excuses for not knowing the material if your teacher has a podcast. This would be something that I wish we had when I was in grade school, maybe if I heard it over and over I would have gotten better grades.

C4T Project #3

 Mr. Shawn Cornally #1
         During this project I was assigned to Mr. Shawn Cornally (Art Viewer) you can see his blog here http://burrowsart.edublogs.org/2011/02/15/state-bound/comment-page-1/#comment-62 He views all types of art, and this was so crazy because I love art too, so it was perfect. While I was commenting and reading his different blogs I read about a girl who was in the 11th grade. She had a video of herself drawing a face. This video was very impressive and when I commented on it I made sure that I praised her drawing so that she would feel accomplished.
          When I read the next blog post it was about a girl named Molly. She did a pastel piece on a subject brushing his teeth. The way she captured this was awesome. The shading made the nose look like it was actually standing up and not flat on paper. I was blown away by this piece. This was very interesting to me and i enjoyed seeing all the different art.

Steve Anderson #2
His blog was named, blogging about the wed 2.0. His recent post was about Class Connect. It was a website set up by a bored student named Eric. The website allows you so much memory and you can have binders and folders filled with all of your work. I commented on it and said that I might have to set me up an account since its free, and it will keep me organized. Very cool how it came about because of a kid who was bored in class one day.

C4T #3 Tony Baldasaro
This guy was talking about how the schools are encouraging kids to chew gum to concentrate and do all these different things just to make them get a good score on the NECAP test. I researched this and actually found out that indeed gum does help you concentrate. This is was I said to Tony:

Hi Tony, I am a student at the University of South Alabama. I am currently in the EDM310 class where I was assigned your blog this week. I have heard that chewing gum really does help you concentrate. I also researched this on the web since it caught my interest from your post. It was discovered that when you chew gum your short term-memory is enhanced. I just thought that was an interesting fact, love your blog.

C4T #4 Travis Allen (The life of a 21st century student)
While readying Travis Allen's blog post about the Otter Box I left this comment:

Hey my name is Kayla Szymanski and I am currently in EDM310 at the University of South Alabama. I have an Otter Box and would not own any other kind of case. I enjoyed reading about the people who own the Otter Box company, that was pretty cool. Also the otter slide was jsut about the best part of the story to me. Thanks so much for the post keep up the great work!

Blog Assignment #3

Title: What is Peer Editing?
Title: Peer Edit With Perfection Tutorial
Link: coming soon

       To me the video with the elementary kids displayed the perfect message of how letting peers grade each others papers can turn into a mess. They had every situation from kids being to mean,sensitive,fast, ADD and even a little to picky. A lot of times I myself have been in these situations, every class should have to watch this video, if they are going to peer grade. When grading a peers paper its hard because you don't want to hurt any ones feelings. A lot of time people take it to personal and think that you are just tyring to pick a fight.
       When I took the time to peer grade myself today I thought to myself well, I just don't want to be too mean. But if you look at the big picture you are actually helping them out a ton. On the blog that I was proof reading the student did not know how to place simple words and phrases. Also I could tell that they might have been in a hurry because a lot of words were misspelled.


Video:Technology in Special Education
Link: coming soon

        In this video is shows how special ed kids used to have to be singled out. An example is a little boy who could not read as good as the other kids, so a teacher would have to single him out and take him out into the hall to be read out loud too. With the new technology that we have he is able to plug in headphones into his smart phone and the stories are read to him out loud into his head phones. This little boy not only feels normal again but he is learning and understanding. This is definitely a good idea that I could use in my own classroom to make kids feel better about themselves.
        Also some kids that cannot move or speak, they can be hard to understand at times.They also do not always get what they want because of thesemisunderstanding, and it has to be frustrating to them. With our new technology they are able to type out what they are in need of or want, how much easier is that then sitting there and pointing to letters all day. To me if I were teaching special ed they would all have iPads, so it would be a nice fun experience.

Video Title: How the iPad works with Academic for Autism
link: Coming soon

I found a App on the Apple.Education Apps.com its called: How Rocket Learned to Read. This App is very brightly colored and interesting for special Ed kids and even regular age appropriate kids. This App is applying the Language Arts while the kids have fun. I would use this in my classroom as a center maybe. I would have reading centers each center would have a game or in this case a iPad where you could play but yet learn at the same time. The kids would also hence the iPad and want to jump rite in because even though they are elementary or special ed they know that a iPad if one of the hottest things out rite now, that would make them even more eager to play with it.


Title: Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts
Author: Vicki Davis
Link: coming soon

         This video shares how these middle school age looking kids were blogging and using the same software that we are using in this class. Its crazy how I am in my 3rd year of college paying for a computer class and they are doing almost the same exact thing for free in a public education system. I think that Mrs. Davis is doing a wonderful job with her students.She seems to really have a passion for letting kids teach themselves, like she said teachers don't have to know everything. I think that now days that is kind of a down fall with our teaching system, all the teachers do not want to ever be wrong, and most of the time the students could help them out they just don't want help from us.
         They are learning how to us Blogger and other kinds of Software that will help them in college, when they go to apply for a job, it really will come in handy when they need it. I do believe that in this video she states that for some students paper and pen just aren't enough, some have to have sort of a hands on learning experience to excel to their full potential

Project #2

Blog Assignment #2

Title: Did you know?
By: John Strange
Link: coming soon

           This video was pretty interesting, when you put everything into percentages and actually look at them its crazy. 96% of College students all had cell phones, high school kids spent almost 2 hours on their cell phones daily just texting. To me most of the percentages caught me off guard for example, in India they have smarter kids then the U.S. by far. In China more people speak English then probably in the entire U.S.
           This video made me think that we need to step our education level up. The Chinese people be for long will have more people speaking English then the entire world. If they can do that then I don't see why the U. S. cannot have more Chinese speaking Americans. I like how at the end it asked are you ready to be an educator? This got me pumped up ready to go!


A day made of Glass
A Day Made of Glass 2
A Day Made of Glass 2: Unpacked. The Story Behind Corning's Vision.
Project Glass: Live Demo at Google

First A Day Made of Glass 2 is about living day to day with pretty much everything made of glass. When you watchA Day Made of Glass 2: Unpacked. The Story Behind Corning's Vision. it shows how Cornings Vision is actually coming true in our lifetime today. Lastley Project Glass: Live Demo at Google this shows how people can use this on a day to day basis or even for play.

      While watching this video I could not believe what i was seeing, it was truley awsome. People woke up and the curtians were made of glass, the refireigator was touch screen and also made of glass. anything you can image was touch screen and computer processable. Very neat to be able to see this in my lifetime. Makes you wounder what they will come out with next!






Mr. Winkle Wakes
By:Mathew Needleman
Link: coming soon

                      In this video Mr. Winkle wakes from a 100 year nap. He goes to what I'm assuming used to be his job, where he finds technology that he has never seen or heard before. He realizes you can talk to people on computers and with all these new things he gets over whelmed. Mr. Winkles goes to the hospital and he finds people on life support being kept a live by machines, he is blown away by this and cannot believe what his eyes are seeing. He leaves the doctor office and walks and walks until he comes up on a school. When he goes inside the classroom he automatically is familiar with everything. He knows exactly where he is at, the teacher talks for hours while the class learns. as he leaves school he notices one of the computers like he saw at the job place in the back of the room with dust on it. While leaving the school he smiles and is happy at least one thing hasn't changed.
This entire video to me is saying that as the world evolves with technology and changes schools are staying the same. Needleman is pin pointing that Mr. Winkle is completely comfortable in the school building because in 100 years it has not changed at all. i disagree with this video, because if you were to go into a school 100 years from now just imagine all the things they would have. schools to me are going all tech, with smart boards they hardly even use the chalk board. Over projectors are considered "antiques". Schools to me should go back to the pen and paper, yes computers are wonderful to have but when it comes to learning i would rather put 45 min into writing and reading not trying to figure out what website to go to and how to make my computer faster not even on the assignment yet. School should not be a place where you meet for 30 min and then go home and do it all yourself. this is my opinion on this topic.


Title: The Importance of Creativity
By: Sir Ken Robinson
Link: coming soon

        Sir Ken Robinson explains that we are trying to teach but we don't even know how the world will be in 5 years in other words the kids that's are in school now 2012, will graduate college in 2026. he goes on to strongly say that it is very important for kids to have imagination. Kids are not afraid of being wrong, they are just creative. by the time kids are adults they have lost this sense of creativity and they are scared to make mistakes. Picasso once said that all kids are born a artist but the key is keeping that as you grow up. he said that every education system has the same levels, math and language then humanity and at the bottom are the arts. Art and music are usually taught more then drama and dance. he says that the whole purpose of public school though out the world is to produce university professors. the whole system was invented with two ideas number 1:Getting a job 2: academic ability. Suddenly degrees are worth nothing, because now days more people are going to college then every before.
I agree 100% with Sir Ken Robinson, I think that we always applaud kids who are extraordinary in science more then the kid who can draw amazingly. I believe that we need to keep the imagination through out our life, without it life just seems dull. I have a personal experience with this actually when i first went to college i was a fine arts student, my family and Friends all kept asking me what i planed on doing with a art degree. I thought the same thing and it wasn't long before I dropped out of the fine arts department and changed my major. That is proof that this video has some true points to it. I would like to teach 2nd grade and only for one reason really, they will still have some of the imagination like Sir Ken is talking about and I want to savor it.


             As I was watching the Mr.Winkles video when he saw all the new technology around him and then saw how the school had not changed at all after his 100 year nap, I did not agree with the video. To me schools have changed and they are up to date with technology,or I thought so until I watched A Day Made of Glass. When I watched this video I actually felt like Mr. Winkles I was amazed. It was hard to believe that everything going on in the video could be real.
When I watched A Day Made of Glass they had an entire glass house that was touch screen/computer based. It made everything seem so easy, as they Brushed their teeth and weather forecast showed up on the mirror with a messaged. I think of the future and the technology that has already been developed but not seen yet and I cant help but get excited. The excitement comes because I can not wait to be able to use this kind of technology while teaching. Touch screen or even a glass chalk board would be awesome. This video opened my eyes to new technology just like Mr. Winkles eyes were opened.