Blog Post #3

In Kelly Hine's post, "It's not about the Technology" she mentioned several different points: Teachers must be learners, Technology is useless without good teaching, Learning and teaching are not the same thing, and Be a 21st century teacher without the technology. I wrote back to her agreeing with the fact that teachers must be learners. No one in this world is ever completely done learning. Learning is not something that can be ended. With technology constantly being updated in every aspect of teaching, learning new ideas is not uncommon. I also mentioned that being technologically literate is a must in order to be a teacher.
In another point, "technology is usless without good teaching", I said that if a classroom has the newest most expensive smartboard just sitting there, what good is it? If it is not being utilized to the teacher's advantage, it might as well not be there. Teachers have multiple roles, but the most crucial is that they are responsible for teaching the children as much as they can. The children's minds at elementary age are so young and impressionable, being taught essential skills by their teacher holds the most importance. Technology plays a huge role in the growth of children's minds.

Karl Fisch's blog post is truly the epitomy of an in depth opinion of someone who is so passionate about something. This post is focused on technology and how educators should all be technologically literate. I agree one thousand percent with Karl Fisch. One of my favorite lines from his blog is when he said, "If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to make the effort to learn more- it is equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago who didn't know how to read or write." He hit the nail on the head with that one. Technology is such a big part of the world today that is is nearly impossible not to use it in the classrooms.
I mentioned in my comment to him that I think all educators should read his blog post. I also said that being technologically advanced can only help the students in the long run. So why wouldn't educators want to get in on technology? It's crazy to me how some select teachers can just use the ways they learned in the classroom how ever many years aog and not advance in their skills whatsoever. Teachers want their students to be the best they can be, and technology would certainly help improve their creative sides and help them grow all around.

Michael Wesch's video - A Vision of Students Today is hands down the most though provoking video I've seen on this topic. The video is shot in a university classroom with students holding up different statistics about college students. Some say they spend a certain amount of hours doing homework or how much money they spend on textbooks. I wrote, it is mainly focused on the student's perspective. It is all about the student and how much time they spend in class on Facebook. To me, students are paying to be there. Quit complaining. Trying to better your education takes time and focus.
From the other perspective, I'm sure teachers don't want to grade 300 tests and homework, and I'm sure they also hate making the students pay for that $450 textbook. Educators are not there to make you miserable. They are there to inspire you to get your degree and to be successful in your career of choice. I feel like this video was made to see the pressures students face, but you really did not see the teacher's side. This video has opened my eyes to both the student's perspective and the teacher's.

Gary Haye's Social Media count was shocking! Who knew that many things were being shared on facebook or how many new twitter accounts were being made. What's even more shocking is the rate at which they change. Every .5 seconds thousands of social media is being shared all around the world. Technology is truly the biggest way of connection for people all around the world.
I think that me being a future teacher, this can only mean good things are yet to come. With that many social webistes out there, and that many people talking about anything that's on their mind right at that second, new ideas for teachers are constantly being introduced! Teachers all around the world are brainstorming ideas with each other. You can learn so much from a fellow teacher's blog and pictures of what their students have accomplished. It is easy to get discouraged in the teaching career but with millions upon millions of people and even teachers using the social media like Gary Hayes has shared, you can always find someone to insprire you. Getting inspired as a teacher can only mean good things for your students!