End of Semester Reflection

This class has taught me quite a lot about different ways to use technology. I have never considered myself a technology expert. I've always struggled with it. However, with all the technological things we were doing in class, I feel a lot more confident now. The biggest thing I've learned is how to figure things out with technology. The final tech project was fairly difficult for me because I had chosen to use movie maker and had never before attempted anything on it. I literally had to just sit there and play with it until I figured out how to use it. I think that this new skill will help me with future technological things that I may come across. The skill of simply sitting down and trying to figure out how to use something instead of freaking out because I don't know how. This new epiphany is what I value most from this class.

I've also picked up on a lot of different teaching strategies from this class. For example, I more than likely will require my students to do blog posts for homework or as journal entries. Blogs are not difficult to manage, and they allow the students a technological outlet. I also really enjoy Storybird. If I can figure out a way to involve Storybird into my lessons, I definitely will.

I've learned what the state expects of me with regards to teaching technology. Before this class I didn't even know there were tech standards in place. This class has certainly prepared me to help my students reach their technology standards, and to reach my own.

This class has been semi difficult for me because I am so technologically challenged, but without the learning that I got from this class, I would be terrified to go teach middle school children using technology when they know so much more about it than I ever will. However, because of this class, I at least feel competent with technology, and that's a lot farther along than I was in the beginning.

Lesson Plans

I'm really sorry that my Lesson Plans are late. I completely forgot about them. I reviewing the necessary assignments on your blog just to make sure I wasn't missing anything and saw that these were due almost two weeks ago. I'm really sorry for not realizing this sooner, but here they are.

Symbolism/Mask Instructional Plan

Essay Instructional Plan

Once again. I'm sorry they're late.

Comments

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These comments are not in the order that I did them. =]

Reflection 12

This is a semi-continuation of my previous reflection. My boss did get fired, and is now replaced with a younger lady who apparently knows technology a lot better. However, she has horrendous inter-personal skills. She cannot communicate her objectives or her goals to the rest of the management staff. She doesn't even know how to deal with customers who have complaints, but she knows technology and that's is all that matters! WOOT WOOT. I think the company has made a horrendous mistake. They prefer technology over  somebody who actually understands people and their needs.

I feel really bad for my boss. He didn't deserve to be replaced with my new boss. All the changes are going to take a lot of getting used to!

Technology Project

My technology project is for a seventh or eighth grade class and has to do with symbolism. It is a step by step process
1) It requires students to post a journal entry on a blog discussing what they would like to do with their mask.
2) It then requires them to draw out what their idea is so on a paper template.
3) After this the arts and crafts can begin. the students will create a mask out of plaster. They will have their choice of color and symbols to represent them placed upon the mask.
4) After their mask is complete they will need to create a presentation using some form of technology to talk about themselves and why they chose to make their mask the way that they did.

The NETS that this touches are as follows...
 For students:

1. Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.

• The students have their choice of technology to use, therefore it helps with the creative process, and they can think creatively about it. 

2. Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

• the students will be using their technology projects to communicate about who they are to the class.

6. Technology Operations and Concepts: Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations.

• The students will be creating projects using technology of their choice, so they will likely be proficient at using that piece of technology.

For teachers:

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity: Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.

• I will encourage students to use creativity in their project. I will help with any questions that they may have, and I will facilitate a healthy environment to be creative in.

 3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning: Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society.

• I have already created a project of my own that sets the standard of what I want the students to do. I've modeled what is expected, and they now have something to go by.

So those are the standards that my project meets. Here is the rubric, template and all the finished components to the project.

Blog Post: This is the blog post that will be required as a brain storm to what the students are planning.
Template: This is where the students will draw the mask before making it.
Rubric: This is the standards that will be expected, and how the students will be graded based on those standards.
Final Project: This is the final project that I made on Prezi for my mask as an example for the students.

Technology Project Journal

Mask Journal

Color: I'm going to make it green because it's kind of a mellow color, and I'm kind of a mellow person.

Thundercloud: Nothing is every perfect!

Cross: Shine God's grace.

Peace: I'm a peaceful person.

Week 14

I read a few things about what the future of technology is in education. The thing that I found to be most helpful and Realistic is the plans for each student to have their own personal laptop. Some school district have already implemented this. For example, the Kent School District is attempting to give all middle schoolers personal laptops. Other districts are also jumping on board. =] I think this is a really realistic and probable plan. It will also help all students succeed at school because no students will be at a disadvantage when it comes to technology.

Reflection 11

As I meantioned in a previous reflection, the job I work at has had a system update. Pretty much everything that has to do with computers has been changed. My boss is a semi-older gentleman. He is probably fourty years old. The thing is that he cannot figure out how to use the new system even still. He is really worried that he might lose his job to somebody younger and more capable with technology. I find this really sad. He's been with the company for over twenty years, but he fears being replaced just because he can't figure out some technology things.

I think this is a sad reality that many older people have to deal with. They fear being unemployable because they aren't really good with computers. With all the sacrifices my boss made for the company he works for, it's sad to think that his bosses might try and get rid of him just because he cannot perform as well as somebody else with technology.

Reflection 10

I was just wondering if younger teachers are more preferable to older teachers because younger ones would probably use technology better. I'm just curious of how serious Principals and different School Districts are to having their teachers use technology effectively. Because if they were very serious, then getting a job wouldn't be so difficult since I've grown up with technology and can use it semi-effectively. However, if this is still something that schools and principals stuggle with, then landing a job might be more difficult because although older teachers can't use technology as effectively, they do have more experience.

Week 13

I use Word for every single essay that I am required to write for any class. I've never used any other type of word processor for this.

I use Powerpoint if I have to give a presentation to the entire class with visual aids. I know that there are more and probably better things to use for this, but I know exactly how to use Powerpoint, and I don't have to worry about messing anything up.

I don't Excel as much as I use the other two, but sometimes an opportunity comes up when I need to make a graph or a chart of some sort. I've learned that Excel is the fastest and most effective way to do this. However, sometimes I still struggle with how to make things work on Excel sometimes.

I would probably have my students learn these different tools by doing similar things to what I use them for. I'm an English teacher, ao assigning an essay for the students to write on Word, or having the students present a 3-5 minute explanation of who they are at the beginning of the year using Powerpoint would also be helpful. I could also do an assignment in which the students have to create posters using Word to do the writing or PowerPoint to find pictures on clipart. These are all just rough ideas, but they could be helpful.

Technology Project Plan

Audio recording >>

 This is my podcast for the project I plan to do. I think I explain everything sufficiently in the recording, but I guess I'll give a brief introduction. So I plan on doing a symbolism unit making masks. The students will draw symbols that represent them onto their masks, and then present their masks using with technology. Either powerpoint, movie maker, or anything of their choice.

Week 12

The first question I would like to ask is why more teachers are not using the amazing technology that this school offers to enhance their lessons. I haven't had a single teacher use the smart board as anything more than a projector. I've also had very many teachers not use Panopto to record classes. I would like to ask why? I, as a student, am paying quite a lot of money to go to this school, but the technology that part of my tuition pays for is not being used effectively.

The second question I would ask is seeing as these teachers are very well educated in their feilds, most with doctorates, I would ask just for what they think the most important aspect of teaching is. I know this sounds like a genaric question, but I really am curious about what they would say. Their answers can help me form my own ideas about this, and really help me become a better teacher.

A third question that I would ask doesn't really have much to do with teaching, but more with their education. I would ask them how long it took them to get the degrees that they have so that i could gage whether or not I could advance as far as they have.

Reflection 9

I was watching "I Robot" yesterday, and realized that we are not too far from that movie becoming reality. The plot is that robots exist as pretty much human servants. Throughout the movie the robots start killing humans off in the attempt to save them from themselves because humans are slowly killing each other off anyways.

What I mean is not that we will soon have a robot invasion that tries to destroy human life, but I honestly could see robots existing, and being tools for us to use to make our lives easier. I might sound crazy, but I don't see it as too far of a stretch to have robots working in factory jobs, or fast food restaurants. I see this as a really possibility in the next couple of decades.

I don't know how useful this post is, but I was just reflecting on how far we've come, and how far we have the potential to go with technology. It's a bit sobering at times, but also very exciting. Our children will have access to things that our minds can't even think up right now.

Week 11

I chose to look at a blog called Free Technology for Teachers. This blog was very... flashy is the best word I could find for it. There is information in every corner that you look. It is very easy to navigate because there are different tabs at the top to help you find what your looking for.

I left a comment on a blog post that talked about Google Earth. From reading this post, I downloaded Google Earth and started to play around with it. In the comment I talked about all the ways that Google Earth can help English teachers (looking up an author's origins, looking up the setting of a book, etc...) I thought it was very insightful. I'm not sure if my comment really would help anybody. I'm sure all English teachers can figure out what to use Google Earth for by themselves, but it felt good to say something that could be meaningful for somebody on a professional blog that hundreds of people visit.

This blog has very many tools for educators to use. It goes through step by step instructions of how to use different pieces of technology, and how it can be applied in different classroom contexts. I'm really glad I stumbled upon it because it really is helpful

Week 10

Bloom's Taxonomy

Bloom's way of differentiating between different ways of learning is genius. There is the cognitive learning: increasing ones intellectual knowledge, affective learning: increasing ones ability to interact with others affectively, and psychomotor learning: increasing ones physical abilities. It is a genius idea because this almost always means that everybody is intelligent in their own way. They may not be the most "book smart" person out there, but they may be really good with people or really good with sports.Not being "book smart" does not necessarily mean they aren't smart.

Technology can be used to advance all of these intelligences. The congnitive intelligence seems the most obvious. The internet is full of information can can help strengthen a students intellectual mind. The affective intelligence can be strenghened through technology just as easily. Technology allows people to interact with one another at all times. This can help a person become more open around people. However, it can also hinder actual face to face interaction abilities. The third intelligence - psychomotor, can also be helped through technology. We have a lot of available research on proper use of the body regardless of what sport one wishes to play to help prevent injuries. Technology has also increased materials available for athletes to help them perform better.

Reflection 8

I work as a part time manager at McDonald's and about a month ago the corporate officials came to our McDonald's and informed us that there would be a software update on all of our computers. They explained that all the menus on our computers are going to change, and as managers we have to make this transition as smooth as possible. For this to be smooth, I had to learn the new menu before the update happened so that I could help my coworkers adjust as smoothly as possible.

Well, this transition finally happened three days ago. I've worked the last three days, and have had to deal with all the backlash from the new system. In all honesty, the new system is so much easier to use. It was created to make life easier for the employees. However, my McDonald's has a very great dispersion of ages, and I've noticed that the younger people complained for about ten minutes about the new system, but then easily adjusted to using it (because it really is easier.) However, the older people I work with just grumble and nag about having to switch to a new system. I had to follow these workers around almost every second because they always need help with something.

This reinforced the digital native/immigrant idea that we talked about in the beginning of the semester. I mean if I combine all the times that I had to help all the younger people that have worked in the last three days, it still wouldn't come even close to matching up with how often even one older person asked for help. The older generation just can't seem to figure technology out. They always do it with an "accent," but the younger workers at McDonald's played with the new system for a few minutes and figured out how to use most of it very quickly.

This experience at work just made me think once more about how hard this changing technological world is for the older generation.

Week 9

The "Tech Learning Caught on Tape" is a very interesting idea. I think it would be a really worth while to film students while they learn. Students would see themselves learning, and it would help them fix their own mistakes and see where they are going wrong. It would also help create amazing memories for the students in your class.

My favorite idea is filming the students on the first day of school. I could imagine showing them these clips at the end of the school year and seeing just how much they have grown and changed, physically and mentally. Moreover, if I was a freshman teacher, showing the students clips of themselves when they are seniors would be even more priceless.

The only problem that I could see with this is if some of the students don't allow you to film them. It would be really difficult to film the class if this was the case.

Reflection 7

I think that some special needs children learn better if technology is being used. I teach a child with downs syndome in Sunday school. He is fourteen years old, but behaves as if he is much younger. I've recently started to notice that he pays much more attention, or is much more interested in what I am saying if I have a video, or some sort of powerpoint to accompany my lesson.

I know that all children are more engaged when technology is present, but getting this particular child to pay attention and participate in class is much harder than dealing with the rest of them. Now that I have found a way to keep his attention, teaching class has become much easier because he doesn't disrupt lessons quite as often.

I was curious if this was a general rule or idea for most down syndome kids, and if it helped with other special needs also, so I decided to observe in a classroom with special needs children and ask the teacher if this was true. The teacher said that anything out the ordinary or anything that is catchy usually helps the children pay attention and technology is one of the tools she often uses to keep the children engaged.

I know that this might sound shallow and harsh, but I didn't think that children with special needs, or at least some of those children, would respond to technology. I'm not quite sure why I thought this, so learning that they do respond is really interesting and helpful in case I have children with special needs in my classes.

Week 8

Word Scrambler

I found a word scrambler game. I thought that this would be an interesting ways to get students motivated to learn their vocaublary words. I couldn't find a version of the game that let me pick my own words to scrambler, but I'm sure I could figure it out if I tried. This is simply an example of how the game would look like.

Pretty much you start the game and it gives you a count down on how long you have to guess the spelling of the word. You drag and drop the letters into a box at the top of the page, and try and unscrable the word. You get points for quickness, and accuracy.

I was thinking to have the students scramble their vocabulary words, and without looking at their vocabulary list, try to unscrable them. Playing this game would help them cement the spelling of the words in their brains because it is something that they are engaged in.

Reflection 6

If technology keeps advancing at the rate that it now does, will the younger generation soon be considered immigrants to the new technology while our children are the natives.

I know that this is a really weird question to ask and probably confusing question, but it's something that I am curious about. Right now the older generation is seen as immigrants because they cannot seem to grasp technology in the way that it is meant to be used. However, in the next thirty years there are bound to be such advances in the field that even us natives will be confused about what to do with it.

I mean we understand the technology of an ipod, iphone, xbox, PS3, and so forth... but what if scientists come up with holographic imaging technology, or something that simply gets installed into our brains and lets us view television inside our minds. I don't know, these are just random ideas. But even so, we would not know how to deal with this kind of technology. It would be completely new to us. Just like our parents try to grasp our technology, could it be possible that we will soon be trying (and mostly failing) to grasp the next generations technology.

Reflection 5

In my Multicultural Education class we recently watched a documentary on refugees from Sudan. It was one of the most imteresting things that I have ever seen. This group of people have never lived with technology. In fact, they didn't even know what electricity was. This got me to thinking that there is always a very diverse group of people that I will be teaching in my classroom, and some of them might be behind in certain aspects.

I was just curious, how should a teacher deal with students who come from different backgrounds and simply don't know how to understand technology. I'm not sure that this will happen all too often, but it still might.

I mean, I suppose a teacher could spend one on one time with the student and try to help them understand, but if the older generation (who has been around technology for decades now) can't grasp it, how can we expect people who have never dealt with technology to understand it.

What are some suggestions to how a teacher can make the class accessible to all the students without robbing any student of the education that they deserve?

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Reflection 4

I was reading one of my classmate's comments on my blog, and realized that I hold a similar view that she does. She said that technology hinders human development because of all the ways that it is misused. I think that I really do agree with this point. I mean how long can you survive without your phone? We, as a society, are constantly engulfed in the technology around us. I mean sure, we have thousands of facebook friends, twitter and instagram followers, and skype friends, but how many real relationships do we try to foster?

I think that as a society we are moving farther and farther away from real relationships and real interactions with people. We know how to text, email, and IM, but having a conversation face to face with somebody is harder than it used to be. I find that often times people prefer to text somebody rather than call. Everything is about our technology, and not very much is about people anymore. I find this shift very sad because people are what make this life important, not the hundreds of gadgets that we can accumulate.

Week 7

I was looking through all of the things that "Blogs for Educators" has too offer and it's amazing. There are so many resources available for every subject, esspecially English (that's where I spent most of my time). Having creative and engaging lessons isn't really that hard. I mean, with all of the available resources the possibilities are endless. In earlier years, teachers had to be creative all on their own while trying to figure out what to do with their lessons, but today many different teachers can collaborate with one another even from different parts of the country. It's really quit amazing. I honestly can see myself using these resources quit often in my teaching career.

As for how to use it in a math lesson. I'm not really a matyh person, but I suppose there are many different project ideas in those blogs that designed to make kids enjoy math. If I were a math teacher, I would just explore those different options and see where it took me.

Reflection 3

This blog post might seem like a "no-duh" kind of a reflection, but it's something that recently just dawned on me. I'm a Ukrainian-American. I came to the United States when I was very young, but I still remember my life back in Ukraine fifteen years ago. I remember that we had an outhouse, no toilet inside. We did not have a T.V or computer. We did all of our laundry manually. We had a little plot of land on which we grew our food, all of which was done by hand. We had electricity, but the fuses would always blow and we were left powerless. This was only fifteen years ago.

I know that computers and T.V's have been around for much longer than fifteen years, but I've lived a little part of my life with very limited technology, and now I'm completely swarmed with it. I was just thinking how quickly all of these technological advances have progressed. I mean, it has only been fifteen years for me, but in reality it hasn't been that much longer for the rest of the world either. Only fifty or sixty years ago, nobody would have hoped for electric cars, or cellphones with internet on them. Only 100 years ago, the internet itself was not possible.

In the last 100 years technology has advanced very profoundly. We have things that 100 years ago nobody thought was possible. I was just thinking of all the endless possibilities in the next 100 years. We can reach heights that today nobody in their right mind thinks is possible. It's a really exciting world we live in.

Week 6

"Generation IM" is quite the insightful article. In many ways it's similar to the articel we read a few week ago: "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants." It sresses that young people's brains are much different than the previous generations. The younger generation simply will not be able to learn effectively without the use of technology and inovation.

The quote that struck me the most is...

"we need to use technology in compelling and progressive ways, if we fail to do so, kids are going to look at what’s going on in schools and see that it is irrelevant."

I think that this is a real potential. If teachers don't teach their students life skills (a big part of that has to do with technology) then students will simply find school to be useless. If school doesn't help teach them things they will need to survive in the real world, then teachers are not doing their job properly. Students will disengage from school, and focus on things that they think are important if teachers don't implement technology effectively.

I think that science is one of the easiest content areas to incorporate technology into. Teachers can find useful diagrams and virtual videos for any particular science lesson on the internet. For example, if students are learning about muscle systems, then a teacher can find a virtual tour on line and go through it with the students. This will help engage their attention, and help them learn.

Assignment 2

1) This is the link to the original lesson that I pulled from.

http://express.smarttech.com/?url=http://exchangedownloads.smarttech.com/public/content/35/35da3367-c7d1-45a6-a614-fda6567995de/Complete%20Sentences.notebook

2) I will use multiple tools on the smart board. The presentation includes  
    dragging and dropping words, pulling on tabs to reveal hidden 
    sentences, and using a highlighter.

3) The NETS for students that this lesson addresses is the second one:

    Communication and Collaboration.
    Students use digital media and environments to communicate 
    and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support 
    individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

    This NETS fits well in my lesson because the students must   
    collaborate as a class to answer the questions presented on the board. 
    Although only one student is up front doing the actual task on the white
    board, he/she is encouraged to ask his/her classmates for help. This
    fosters student relationships and also helps them learn together.

    The NETS for Teachers that is incorporated in my lesson is also the 
    second one:

    Experiences and Assessments.
    Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning  
    experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools
    and resources to maximize content learning in context and to
    develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS

    This NETS for teachers is incorporated in my lesson because it says  
    that a techer should use contemporary tools to enhance learning. I am
    using the white board to help students focus.

4) Using the white board can definitely help inprove student learning by  
    encouraging participation. Kids enjoy using technology, so providing 
    them with the white board as a learning tool is extremely helpful
    because it makes them want to participate in the class lesson, so that 
    they could use the white board. Participation, in turn, leads to greater
    learning. If a student is actively participating in a school lesson, then it
    is much more likely that they will retain more information.

Reflection 2

Oh the shame!

Today my aunt came over with her seven year old son, Jacob. He wanted to watch a T.V. show off of the internet, so I turned it on for him on my laptop. He looked at me like I was crazy and simply asked,

"Why don't you hook it up to the T.V. This screen is too small"

I told him that I didn't know how to do that. So, at this point, mt seven year old nephew gets up, finds the necessary wires, and hooks up the laptop to the T.V. A seven year old was able to do this! I asked his mom if he ever hooked anything like that up before, and she said that he had no, but he watched his father do it once before. I thought that this was remarkable. It's true that young minds are different than ours. I probably would never be able to figure out how to connect the two devices, but my nehew was able to do it at the age of seven from observing his father do it once before. Things are definitely changing at an amazing rate.

Week 5

http://www.prometheanworld.com/en-us/education/products/interactive-displays/activboard-300-pro

The Promethean AvtivBoard seems just like the smart board that we were using in class. At least all the information that I could find on it made it seem that way. This board can be used to create lessons, as a white board (you can write things on it), as a projector, and many other things. What I really like about smart boards in general is how easy it is to use them. Maybe I feel that they are easy to use because I've grown up in the "digital age" and I'm just completely used to technology. However, I've never seen technology as a friend. We've always been at odds with each other. I've never been good at anything technological, so the fact that I find smart boards easy to use probably means that they were made so that technologically challenged people could use them too.

My only question is, how can somebody get more educated about smart boards? Do schools offer special training programs for new teachers? I'm only asking because there are so many things that the smart board offers, it would be nice to learn how to use all of them.

Week 4

This week was mainly focused on the interactive smart board. I have learned a great deal of new things about how the smart board functions. What I thought was the most interesting and practical thing about the white board is how it functions very much like powerpoint from Microsoft. Since I am used to using powerpoint, making the adjustment won't be too big of a change. I think that with enough practice, I might be able to do very well with the smart board. My only worry is that I might plan an entire lesson on the smart board to have it break on me or have some kind of malfunction. Technology isn't always reliable, so I do fear that this would be an issue because then I would have absolutely no idea what to do. It's just too much of a hassle to always think of two different lessons just in case the technology doesn't work. I hope that this doesn't happen very often.

Nets

The NETS for Students that I have chosen is the second one: Communication and Collaboration.
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

I chose this one because I think that it is one of the most important. It is very crucial for students to learn how to use digital media, but it equally important for them to be able to work with other students. This is a necessary skill to have as a human being.

The NETS for Teachers that I chose is also the second one: Design and Develop Digital Age Learning.

Experiences and Assessments Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS·S.

I chose this because it's the teacher's job to facilitate an environment in which technology is readily available. If a teacher does not involve technology in her lessons or classroom, then how can the students be expected to learn digitally. I feel that this point is also one of the more important ones.

Week 2

The Ted Talk video is a really good expression of what education is, and what it should become. Ken Robinson compares education to a fast food restaurant, in which everything is standardized and we want to get through it quickly and efficiently. He does say that it shouldn't be that way. We should take heed of each individual student's talents and work to expand them. Robinson made a great point in saying that standardized education does not benefit most students because most students don't fit into that mold. I think that if technology was used to the best of our ability in education, then we could start straying from the standardization of education. What I mean by this is that through technology, every student can be taught in a way that is beneficial to them and their individual talents.

Reflection 1

The world really is changing. It's really exciting, but also scary at the same time. Our generation is considered to be very tech savvy. I mean, seemingly on a daily basis the world releases a new "tech-toy" for people to play with. Although this has many benefits to society, it also has it's detriments. I fear that my generationm, and those who come after me will have an insatiable thirst for new things. Don't get me wrong, technology is very important and exttremely helpful in many different ways, but I fear that some of the changes that came with the increase of technology are not very beneficial. For example, younger generations that are growing up with very advanced technology at their fingertips, might become much more impatient and irritable because of their high expectations. they expect new things almost every second, and they expect to be entertained and informed about everything rather than taking initiative themselves to figure things out. I hope that this doesn't happen, but it is something that I fear, and already come across all the time.

Week 3

The article "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" presents quit a new concept to the educational world. It's really fascinating that studies have determined that the brains of the younger generation, as compared to the older, think much differently. I agree with the article to some extent. For one, I think that teaching to the "digital natives" in their own "language" is very important. The article stated that students often do not pay attention because the information is presented in quite a boring manner. If teachers want to reach their students, then they need to adapt to their learning abilities. However, I do think that some of the "old ways" are also important for the younger generation to learn and appreciate. I understand that the world is changing, and what is important to the older generation isn't necessarily the same for the younger. However, I can never truly accept that because everything is changing we need to adapt all our teaching to be "edutainmental." Some things are still important for students to know that are not fast, easy, and overly accessible. For example, learning how to read properly is important. I'm not talking about simply knowing how to read words, but learning how to process and to analyze it on a much deeper level. This can be done through "edutainment," but it's still a process and isn't as instantaneous as students are accustomed to. With all of this said, I am worried that I won't be an effective teacher because of the way that students learn today. I am not really technologically savvy, but I guess that's the process of being a teacher: being flexible and willing to grow and learn.

Week 1

I am not a very technologically savy person. In fact, I couldn't even find the assignment sheet for what we are required to write on our blogs. I simply remembered what was said in class, and that is what I will write about. I've never been good with technology. It takes me quite sometime to figure it out and learn to deal with it. I'm really worried about this aspect of being a teacher. I don't want to be lost in the classroom because of all the technology that I am expected to use. I honestly hope that this class helps me learn how to use all sorts of technology to my students' advantage and to my own as well. I'm expecting to learn a lot in this class. I also want everyone to know that I'm probably going to struggle a little bit, but I will try my hardest.