Blog Post # 3

"It's Not About the Technology" by Kelly Hines would be a great blog for all existing and upcoming teachers to read. She states in her blog that technology should not be the only focus on teachers and they should round out having great teaching skills with blending in the new technology for students to become familiar with it. It seems as though educators have drawn a line in the sand concerning technology and making teachers chose to teach "by the books" or exclusively with technology. This should not be true. Every child learns in their own special way integrating "good old fashioned" teaching methods with using the latest technology will help each and every student get the information they need in the way they learn best. Mrs. Hines is right in the fact that teaching is not only about technology and I feel all teachers need to get sight of that. Computers and smartboards are both great tools for teachers to use inside the classroom and they should be available to students in each and every room to help them grow and be better prepared for the future. When I am a teacher I hope to remember the message Mrs. Hines is trying to send out so my students can better understand the world around them.

Karl Fisch's "Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?" was a sobering blog for me to read as a future teacher. He really stressed in his blog the importance of teachers in this day and age to be completely literate with new technology. It reminded me that everything in this world is happening at such a fast pace and we as future teachers need to be able to teach our students how to use these important tools in our lives. Technology is all around us and children are going to learn how to use it with or without us teaching them. It is crucial that we teach them the correct way and so they can learn all they can from it. I am so glad South is offering this Edm 310 class to prepare future teachers to be technologically literate and we can share our knowledge with our future students.

Gary Hayes "Social Media Count" is a tally system per second of how many times things such as twitter and facebook is
used. The numbers go up at such a fast pace it is a little overwhelming to think how much technology is being used at that exact second. To see numbers like this it is crazy think that many of our generations grandparents have never even owned a computer. Many of our children by the age of 2 know how to at least turn the computer on and off and play simple games to pass time. This world is truly changing at such a rate if we do not learn how to use technology we will be left behind. We as future educators should prepare ourselves to teach the upcoming generation to be equipped to know how to use this technology properly. We are more responsible than ever now to shape their minds and get involved in these new technologies. Seeing this social media count has opened my eyes to the fact that I do not know as much as I should about social media and I need to get out there and learn more.

Michael Wesch's video "A Vision of Students Today" made me realize that what many of those students were saying was exactly how I feel every single day about the traditional classroom. The video was set inside a lecture classroom and basically asked the students to write down what many students were thinking about in a typical lecture. Things were said such as "I buy hundred dollar textbooks that I never open up" and "I will read 8 books a year and read 2300 webpages and 1281 facebook profiles." Watching this video you can tell these are students just like me feeling the same way I do. The traditional classroom serves a great purpose but with technology playing such a huge role in so many of our lives I feel major universities should try and better integrate social media with college courses. When I become a teacher I hope to take this video and try to help my students not feel like some of these students do.

Peer Editing
Peer editing is such an important thing for kids to do all the way up to their careers. I feel like it helps them in many ways to better their personal work and get a better insight into what others feel about a particular subject. Peer editing also trains your eyes to see things in your own paper that you may not have seen yourself. The rule about complimenting on your peers work is so important because you want them to take the advice in a way they feel like you are not trying to personally hurt their feelings. Depending on what needs to be said about the review I feel like it is the reviewers choice whether to make the corrections public or a little more private. I enjoy reading others work and I hope they take the job of peer editing serious because sometimes that is the only other set of eyes that see the paper before the teacher grades it.