Blog Assignment #3

After learning about how to critique someone's blog without offending them, I decided to privately discuss any mistakes I saw in their blog. I had noticed some grammatical errors on their slide and felt that it could use a little more content. Some pictures that showed some of her experience with dance or something from her high school would have given me a better idea of why she chose that particular slide. I think that every situation is different when it comes to critiquing someone and I hope to become more comfortable with this by the time I do this with my classes.

Ms. Hines post "It's not about the Technology" was really helpful and spot on. Technology doesn't become beneficial in a classroom if we are not practicing good teaching habits without it. The point that I loved the most was that teachers have to be learners. I had plenty of teachers that thought they knew it all and no student could ever teach them anything. These were usually the teachers that taught the same curriculum every year. I think my dad could recite it word for word. How is this kind of attitude positive for any student?

Also, she makes a point that if we utilize the four points she emphasized in the blog before adding the technology, then the learning is limitless. What an exciting time it is in education! Our generation still has not realized its full potential and hopefully everyone is going to take advantage of the unlimited resources that are at educators disposal.

After reading Mr. Fisch's blog on technological illiteracy, it makes me wonder why more teachers are not held accountable for falling behind on new trends and ideas that has shown to improve the quality of a student's education. It really falls on the principals and administrators who allow this to go on. He mentioned this in his list of do's and don'ts. The blog was bold and I commend him for having the guts to call out these teachers that beat their chests about their lack of technological knowledge. You should be so proud that you are now 30 years behind the rest of us. In fact, your students will probably eventually replace you because of your unwillingness to adapt!

Secondly, why isn't there more emphasis being put on forcing these teachers to make an effort to educate themselves? Aren't we expected to continually educate ourselves when it comes to our focus. Well, technology is as important of a focus as history, Math, and Science. I say get with the times or get out of our way!!


The social media count by Gary Hayes is really a symbol of what education is evolving into. Just like the huge amounts of data that is growing by the second, education and the way we get our message out to our classes, is constantly changing and evolving. When I see a stat that "24 hours of video is uploaded to youtube every minute", I am just blown away at how much computers and the internet have impacted our lives. Who knew that the potential to distribute information would be this significant when this all began to take form years ago.

If we, as teachers, do not continue to learn, study new skills, and employ technology into our classrooms, we are failing!! Everyone has a duty to be the best teacher they can be. So, don't get complacent. Be a sponge. Absorb every idea, skill, and movement that better prepares you and your students for an ever changing world.

I have to say that the video by Michael Wesch seems to bring up the notion that college students are wasting more time using their gadgets than focusing on their studies. The argument that I got from the video is they need to use those tools in the classes to get students more interested in what they are learning. It is basically how this class is utilizing facebook, twitter, and other online tools and social media to become better educators.

Principals and University Presidents have got to reevaluate the classroom setting and come up with some out of the box ideas that can stimulate the minds of our generation. Traditional settings are becoming obsolete!! Why must we spend hundreds of dollars on books that can be made available online for much less? This is a crime and yet nothing changes. Has anyone heard of an e-reader or a tablet?