Blog Assignment 5

Scott McLeod - Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff, Please?
In this post Mr. McLeod takes a very sarcastic approach to tell parents, administrators, board members and teachers that technology is coming but in schools it is taking too long to arrive. He talks of not worrying about teaching students to do papers on the computer, or how to connect with people online since pens and paper are going nowhere. He does show at the end of his post though, that it is all in sarcasm as he writes that he is going to teach his students everything that is thought to be corruptible in educational technology. He knows that if most teachers stick to the old fashioned ways of teaching their students than those that are taught by teachers who embrace and enhance technological learning will have a leg up in the future.
It turns out that Scott McLeod is an Associate Professor at UK (University of Kentucky) and has received many awards for his work. He blogs regularly, is an idea generator and a CASTLE director. I find the quote on his home page to be quite interesting and very true to him: "If the leaders don't get it, it's not going to happen." So the leaders of our school need to get it so that his ideas can continue to happen.

The iSchool Initiative
     Travis Allen's argument is for making school completely green by getting rid of paper, pens/pencils, textbooks, and printers & ink. To do this it would replace all of those things with and iSchool on the iPod Touch. He tells about all the learning capable features that are already on the iPod and of how much money it will save everyone if they switch. Plus it will lower our Carbon Footprint and raise how green our society is.
     My reaction was one of wonder and surprise and fear all at the same time. The wonder is that schools really could go to be completely online and over iPods and the like without teachers and students ever meeting face to face. The surprise comes from how eager this young man sounds for it to be true. Though the fear comes from both of these things and the fact that if school goes this way then libraries are sure to be next, and since I am an avid reader I would hate for this to happen. I can't stand looking at my computer screen long enough to finish writing a paper so there is no way I would be able to stare at it to finish a book.
For his ZeitgeistYoungMind's Entry Travis Allen just gives an update on what he has been doing since he made the video that started the iSchool Initiative and encourages everyone to get involved with the program.

Jennifer Chambers & Eric Whitacre
Ms. Chambers found an amazing video of 185 voices all over the country singing one song together. It was a truly unforgettable sound that doubled in cool points once I found out that the people that made that soothing song had never once met in person! I think this is one of the best ways I have seen the internet used so far. Last semester when I had to write about this video I wished that Eric Whitacre had more videos of virtual choirs. After watching the video this time, I found that he does indeed have at least one more out. He got a choir together to perform Sleep.

Teaching in the 21st Century
To Roberts teaching ultimately comes down to asking the question "what does it mean?". To him it doesn't matter the content, skills, or subject. You could be using Google, textbooks, or even just brainstorming ideas with a group or partner but Roberts will want to know what it means. What the meaning of a color is, what the meaning of being president is, or what the meaning of literature is. Like it says, no matter the content. And I think that is absolutely fabulous. I know that things will change for me as a future educator because it will no longer be knowledge getting crammed in one ear and spilling right back out of the other. The students will actually have to put in efforts on projects and assignments instead of throwing things together at the last minute since I will be using this way of always wanting to know what things mean.

Reading Rockets
I think the one resource that I would find the most valuable from this website would be the Reading for Meaning show they have on there that is aired on PBS. This is because I am a big reader myself and think that everyone should enjoy the books that they read.
The other tool that I would value greatly is the Watch & Learn videos. They take you into the classroom to actually show you if the methods, tricks, and strategies you are thinking of using will actually work with students.