Blog Post #3

                       Michael Wesch: A Vision of Students Today

This video was true about so many different areas of life in college. Let's begin with the class size of 113. All of my classes have a different amount of students but I have had some classes that big. The classes that are that size also seem to be the toughest ones that I may have needed one on one with such as  biology and math. This causes students to not want to ask questions or either they don't have the time and you just pray that another student asks what you need to know. With classes this size teacher’s don’t know your name and many seem to not care to know your name. For instance I had a class where we took attendance with our clickers. Well for some odd reason when we got our grades my attendance was zero. The only times he had me marked in class was on quiz or test grades. My grade dropped a letter grade to a C for this. I sat on the front row and missed two classes all semester with a doctor’s note. I went to the professor and he had no clue who I was. He finally found me in the system and changed my grade. He had no clue if I was in class or not.

I can also relate to the books topic. I have bought many books and never used them which helps build your debt higher. I will definitely be in debt when I get out of college so this applies to me as well. It also annoys me to see students never come to class after paying for an education. I take advantage of every chance I get to learn more for my money. I also spend many hours studying and sometimes work on very few hours of sleep. I believe that technology can help us but not save us. Most students in class with technology aren't paying attention and are on a web page other than where they should be.

If I had to add something I would add that many adults come back to school after many years and struggle more because they have  been out of school so long and they usually have a husband, kids, a job and still have to eat, sleep, study, go to the gym and much more. College life is very demanding and you have to jump in and be strong to overcome it all.

An article, “It’s Not about the Technology,” by: Kelly W. Hines, (Keeping Kids First). Below is a list of the four things that she listed.

       1.  Teachers must be learners.

        I agree with Mrs. Hines on this because with technology comes change but with traditional teaching things don't change as much. Traditional teaching will always be about the same but you can add technology to add some excitement and fun to learning. Technology can help teaching and hurt it. It’s just all about what you believe. We all have different opinions.

      2.  Learning and teaching are not the same thing.  Everyone has a different opinion of what teaching and learning truly is. A teacher can teach all day and a student still not get it and that happens at all age levels. Even at my age I can leave a class and feel like I learned nothing. Dr. Strange calls that the burp back teaching. I believe that hands on classes such as EDM 310 assure that you learn what you are being taught.

       3.  Technology is useless without good teaching.

      Many schools have technology and no one uses it. I agree that we can't rely solely on technology but if we have it to use why not use it to add to our curriculum. Students like new and exciting things so why not add some excitement into your class. Don't just let something that expensive get no use

      4.  Be a 21st Century Teacher without the technology.

I agree with Mrs. Hines when she states that you can learn and do well academically without technology. I also disagree to a point because we have the technology so why not use it and make things interesting. I believe that if we combine the both we can form a very effective and fun way of learning!

Karl Fisch: Is It Okay to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?

My opinion is if a teacher isn't technology literate, how will she be able to teach in the future. I firmly believe that before long everything will be computerized. We have to keep up with times and learn technology. I loved all of the quotes that Mr. Fisch used because they are all so true. You can’t be technologically illiterate and be an effective teacher. I am proud to say I am in this class so that I can learn all I can in technology.

Gary Hayes Social Media Count

Wow is all I can say. I knew that technology is being used daily but not to that extent. Watching the numbers constantly changing was overwhelming to an extent. Technology is growing and changing so fast in today’s time. I pray that I can learn everything that I can about technology so that I can accurately teach my student's and use it in my classroom.