Blog Post #8

This is How We Dream Videos

While I listened to the This is How We Dream videos, I couldn't help but wonder what I could possibly write that hasn't already been said about the surging forward that technology has made in the past few years. In this blog alone I have covered the subject quite thoroughly.
Then I started listening to what the speaker was saying. I heard him say that the English research that he had done now lived a duel life, as a hard copy text, available to the patrons of a library, and as a digital copy, on the web available to the whole world for review and learning. He then said that the internet opened the information to all people and gives him the opportunity to bring into his writing visual,video, and audio information into his text.
I think that it is also important for him to have said that he didn't know what the next big breakthrough would be.I don't think that a teacher needs to be ahead of the curve or even right on the edge of change. I do feel that teachers need to be aware of the changes and advances in technology so that they can show their students how to use it. Even if it is just a taste of what is available, students can ,from that taste, fall in love with what they learn and take it onward into the edge or the future.

Carly Pugh's Blog Post #12

Holy smokes, this project was truly inspirational. Ms. Pugh is pretty good at taking things to an extreme in a good way. I don't think I could ever have done the work involved to get this project. Just going through these videos was so interesting. I especially liked the last video she had embeded in her post that served as a kind of reflection period for the watcher/reader to take all of the suggestions and examples given and use them to evaluate yourself as a teacher rather than show you how bad or good you are doing.I also see how this ties into the Dr. Miller's desire that we integrate and use technology to help us as teachers to prepare students for the future because she uses a chain of online information to help her teach specific principle and ideas. This will enable students to see that videos and visual media can teach as much as or more than simple book learning.

Chipper and EDM 310 For Dummies

So it was nice to review the videos now that we are half way through and see if I have slipped into a "Chipper" mood. I feel like I would want to do a video explaining a specific post or project so that people have something like a tutorial to watch and use as a resource. This could also help the lab assistants so that if they cannot get a certain point across they can direct the student to the tutorial. Another possibility could be a "Good Idea, Bad Idea" video sequence showing good and bad habits you want to avoid or apply during your time in EDM 310.

Learning to Change, Changing to Learn

This video features several teachers talking about how the education system has to change in order to be effective in the coming job markets for students. I think the biggest thing I took from the video is the phrase "It is the death of Education, but it's the birth of learning, and I am happy about that." With the rise of the technology age, the usefulness of educators will decrease as sources of knowledge and increase as catalysts to learning. Knowledge is at all of our fingertips but it will be our responsibility to show them how to find out where the information came from and whether it is to be trusted.

Scavenger Hunting

I have to admit that this task seemed a little daunting but I think I found a few useful sites to add to my growing list of resources as a teacher. For my three items to hunt I choose the social network for teachers and students first. I signed up for an account with edmodo.com. In this site alone, teachers can set up class groups, assign online quizzes, make polls, comment directly to students email or text message them, and post upcoming events and deadlines on a timeline so that their students can prepare for classes more effectively.
I decided to look at video tools next because I want to incorporate visual youth to some of the old dusty classics that we have to cover in the English courses I hope to teach in high school. PhotoPeach is a website that allows a user to embed quizzes and polls into photo compilations and even set the assignment to music. I think students would find it easier to do an identification test with a visual depiction of the character as well as a description of his personality. You could also use this to check comprehension of text by presenting your students with scenes from a play and then having them describe what was occurring in the scene.For my final Scavenger hunt item, I made a poll on polleverywhere.com. Check it out.Here is My first Poll