Blog Assignment 4

Don’t Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?

I really enjoyed this post. I know that everyone worries about what kids will encounter on the internet, but should this stop us from allowing them to grow and learn. Yes, a child can learn without computers, but will they be learning what is going to prepare them for their future. Can you teach them the things they will need to know without involving technology?

Dr. McLeod is an Associate Professor in the Educational Administration Program at Iowa State University. He is the co-creator of the video, Did You Know (Shift Happens). He is the director of CASTLE, the only academic center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators.


The iSchool Initiative

I think the idea is a little far fetched. I see how it would save money, but how can you insure your students are following along in class. I know that even when kids have books on their desks and pencils in their hand they can still be drifting off into their own little world, but I could see students finding a way to have games on there iTouch or listening to music. I just see it being too easy to get distracted. The guy in the video had everything being done on the iTouch, what about writing? Are we not going to need to write anymore?

Let’s say this does start becoming the way that teachers teach in class. What grade would it start with? I’m sure elementary school children would not be learning this way. Or maybe, I just do not have the kind of expectations I should for these kids. I mean I guess it is true I have seen 6 year olds running around with iPhones, so why couldn’t they learn from an iTouch? It’s just seems so unreal to me. I enjoy taking notes and following along in a book. That’s not to say that I don’t feel that technology should be incorporated in the classroom, but I don’t think there should be no writing or books.


The Lost Generation

This was so neat!! It took me a little while to realize that what it said one way it said the opposite the other way. It’s sad to think that our families don’t come first, work is the most important thing, money makes us happy, and in thirty years we will be celebrating our ten-year anniversary of our divorce. I know, I want to be the exact opposite. I want my life to be life that you read from bottom to top.


Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir- ‘Lux Aurumque’

I’m not much into music, so unfortunately I don’t believe I understand why this is so different or impressive. I mean for the people to never actually meet one another must be difficult to sing in sync, but then again I’m really not sure how that all works.


Teaching In the 21st Century

This video really caught my attention when it pointed out that teachers are no longer the main source of knowledge. I remember growing up and thinking that my teachers had all the answers, but now we head straight to the internet to find everything we need. Are teachers going to be as involved in learning in the future, or are we going to be being taught by computers? Makes you think…. What will we be teaching in the 21st Century?