Blog Post # 5

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Dr. Scott McLeod's post,"Don't teach your kids this stuff. Please?" was an post filled with irony. I read the post a couple of times to make sure I had an accurate understanding. I came to the conclusion that, " Don't Teach Your Kids this stuff. Please?" displayed a bit of satire and sarcasm. At the very end of the post Dr. McLeod clarifies the underlying meaning by saying," don't do any of it, please really 'cause I'm doing all of it with my kids can't wait to see who has a leg up in a decade or two can you?". This statement simply means that everything he is telling you not to do, really means you should do it, either with your students and or child. Dr. Mcleod really exaggerates and focuses on the worst possible extremes, which is far fetched, and if parents, teachers, administrators,and board members use technology correctly than we wouldn't have to worry about those particular problems. Instead, we would actually be teaching our students how to learn in an innovating, creative, hands-on manner which is far better than old fashion pencil and paper.
Who is Dr. Scott McLeod? Dr. Scott McLeod is a Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Kentucky. He is also a blogger, author, and the creator/director of CASTLE (Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education).

The iSchool Initiative is a very well thought of idea or creation. Travis Allen, a seventeen year old high school student, he is responsible for this impressive approach. Travis Allen is not only saving money, but he is also making an attempt to save the environment. The problem with schools today is that classes are too large, materials are too expensive, and most resources aren't useful. The question that Travis posed, "Does technology belong?". In my opinion, technology should be our side by side assistant, because the iTouch and the iSchool would be a great idea to make it an reality. The best feature is that it would be in the palm of your hands, which means it is also easy as pie to stay on task!

Jennifer Chambers found this awesome video, Eric Whitacre's "Virtual Choir". My reaction to this video was quite interesting, because the sound was beautiful, the involvement with 185 people was astonishing, to me as well. To actually know that none of these people knew each other is also interesting. Eric Whitacre's deserves great recognition for this well thought of performance via internet. The virtual choir demonstrates the great distances that technology can reach through learning via music.

Kevin Roberts, has a informative video called, "Teaching in the 21st Century" it explains clearly what it means to be a 21st century teacher.The video goes in to great detail about Bloom's Taxonomy and how education has changed today because information can be found any where, any time, and at any place. However, we as teachers are responsible for discerning if the information is relevant, challenging, and engaging. In addition, that is what it means to be a 21st century teacher. Mr. Roberts sees teaching changing by the variety of information that is available. He sees change by the way we have basically substituted paper, pencil, and book for internet because of it's wonderful advanced ways of getting kids engaged. Honestly, I believe he is absolutely right because education has changed tremendously from the result of technology. I also think the transition is beneficial to our students success. Technology is assisting teachers and parents, and it even engages us, as well. Technology will definitely have a positive impact on the way I teach, because I will use it to my complete advantage.

Reading Rocket was indeed a great site to assist me when I become a teacher. According to, "Reading Rocket", it is defined as the national multimedia literacy initiative offering information and resources on how young kids learn to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help. Now, I understand why Anthony Capps suggested it. Specifically, I read information on first year teacher self study course. I found this information to be beneficial for me since in the next year or so, I'll be a first year teacher. I also read, "back to school teacher tips". It is a booklet that helps when you have went through the summer and need to reiterate information concerning classroom management, structure, lesson plans, or great activities. The most helpful resource provided was definitely, "become a teacher: survival guide for new teachers". I thought this was relevant because you can read remarks from new teachers,co workers, and etc. This website was certainly a plus in my grade book, because it incorporated many helpful tools for student, teachers, principals, and other such important people that want our kids to grow up and succeed to improve the next generation.