Blog Post #3

"It's Not About Technology" 
In this post, Kelly Hines points out some very important issues about technology being involved in schools.  Hines believes that throwing technology in schools is not the first step into making a school system better.  She states that in order for a school to become better there a few things that should be recognized in order to impact upcoming students.  These things are that teachers must be learners, learning and teaching are not the same thing, technology is useless without good teaching, and be a 21st century teacher without the technology.

I enjoyed reading this post.  When you actually think about it, the things that Kelly Hines stated in order to impact upcoming students in the classroom are basically common sense statements that all teachers should realize.  Technology can not be put into a room if a teacher is not willing to learn everyday about the evolving technology.  Teachers must also realize that, yes, they are the teacher, but teachers also learn from their students.  Not only from their students, but also from other sources.  Lastly, another point that I like that Kelly Hines pointed out was that technology in the classroom is not a "must have".  Class can be taught using very little technology, just be creative.

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?  
In this post, Karl Fisch voices his opinion of whether it is okay for teacher to technologically illiterate.  He says that almost everything we do has to be done by using at least some form of technology.  In his opinion, it is unacceptable to say "I don't really get computers" and be comfortable with it.  He also states that technology is a major form of how most people communicate in the 21st century, and communication is a main principle that is taught in the classrooms.  Karl states that being technologically illiterate is basically the same as being illiterate to reading and writing as well.

This post made much sense to me.  Although as time goes by, teachers have to accept the fact that their teaching methods must also change with time.  A teacher who has been teaching for a number of years realizes that the methods they used when they first started teaching, of course, are not the same as today.  I believe that in order to be a teacher, you must also have to learn daily.  You have to learn the new material that is being processed in the modern day to be able to teach your students how to use and access these materials.  As Karl Fisch says, "How can we teach this to kids, how can we model it, if we aren't literate ourselves?"  He also states that we have to be willing to learn along with our students.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count

As soon as I clicked this website, I immediately saw large numbers streaming and increasing by the second all the way up to annually.  This website calculates the statistics of technology, what is being viewed, sent, and even watched on the internet.  A few websites include Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Skype.  Some of the numbers I saw where shocking, because I use a great deal of these sites that are being calculated.  However, when I do use them, I wouldn't expect that many items to be viewed, sent, and watched.

Watching those numbers, I realized that technology increases by the second.  By the time I am a teacher, those numbers will be even higher than they are today.  So as I continued to watch the numbers increase, I noticed that as technology increases, I will have to increase.  I will have to keep up to date with technology and learn daily the new additions to be able to teach my students and have an efficient classroom setting.


A Vision of Students Today
This video points out facts about students.  It shows many facts about teenagers and their daily lives.  While viewing this, I noticed that I do the same things and feel the same was a majority of most of those teenagers.  However, some of those facts can be eliminated.  Technology being used in the classroom can help and it can also hinder the educational learning environment.

I believe laptops should be able to be brought to class.  However, if the teacher is doing his job as a professor/teacher by lecturing and teaching the materials, the student should be able to have enough self discipline to use the technology in the correct way, such as not being on social websites that capture their attention away from the class activity.  Also, just because a student is in a large numbered classroom does not give them the right to just be a number.  They should do whatever it takes to be an active student in the classroom such as pay attention and even ask questions to make the learning environment more exciting.