A Vision of Students Today!

The YouTube Video, "A Vision of Students Today," is extremely thought provoking.  If you have the time to watch it, you will see that many students buy expensive textbooks that are never used, are often jam packed into classes with numbers dwelling well into the hundreds, and feel that college does not prepare them for the real world.  I often agree with these statements.  I used to attend UCDavis, a college in California known for their agricultural science department.  I was miserable there.  Many of my classes had 300 students in them.  Most of my professors couldn't have picked me up from a lineup.  The entire environment was impersonal.  Furthermore, I was attending the college for avian sciences.  Though I worked on a poultry farm, much of the material I learned about had little to nothing to do with real world complications.  I found the entire process extremely frustrating.  Yet, college is deemed necessary.

The author of this video, Michael Wesch, wrote a response to the video seen above.  He cites his frustration as a teacher to do what he believes is required.  The entire article is a good read, but the most important part is at the end where he says that he believes that the system can be fixed by encouraging digital information and college to progress together.  By engaging students in projects that have real world applications, the system of education may be saved.  I would love to see more ideas of how to fix the problem with the educational system as well.

Internet Safety! DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN!

Internet safety.  Just to think about a decade ago this wasn't a problem at all.  Now almost every single news broadcast uses this phrase in some manner.  Everyone should be concerned about internet safety, but children should especially be forewarned.  Children can be more vulnerable due to their innocent nature and lack of experience with the world.  I am listing two important cites that can aide students and their family/teacher/friends.  Also, check with the schools where your student attends because schools often make up websites about how to be safe on the internet.


NetSmartz:  I babysit a lot and when parents ask me about what they think they should teach their children about the internet, I refer them to this cite.  I LOVE it! It gives information that the children should know based on what age/grade they are in.  It explains basic safety rules, such as to tell an adult if you come across something that makes you uncomfortable, and more advanced rules, such as taking someone with you wherever you go.  This cite shows what pledges a student should make and it explains why these decisions are good ones.  Too often we assume that children are incapable of understanding the method behind the madness of parenting, but the students should know the reasons why these rules are important.

Disney:  Disney, being the child friendly organization that it is, also chose to help explain how to do "safe surfing."  This is an interactive website that has some really fun, and educational, games for children and good informative facts for parents.  This website also sorts by ages, under or over 10, so that the information can be tailored based off what they student will use the internet for.  It also shows classic Disney characters who help explain how to keep safe on the internet.

If anyone has any further cites that demonstrate a skill at keeping children safe on the internet, I would love to see what they are.

How Should Students Learn to Use the Social Network?

I recently read an article that cites how important it is for students to learn about using social networks.  What I really liked about this article is that a principal encourages his students to use social networks in the school.  This not only promotes technology, but it promotes using technology in effective and mature manners.  Too often students are using facebook, twitter, and other social networks in detrimental ways.  I have too often come across information that should be kept private.  Furthermore, these tidbits of information can often come back to haunt you.  At my work, we recently hired someone who we later found out had an adult themed website.  This was EXTREMELY problematic since I work with children in a positive environment.

I also really liked hearing about the "Around the World with 80 Schools."  This is a great idea.  Often Americans forget that there are a broad array of cultures in the world.  This project sounds amazing in that it will help emerse children in a culture rich environment and engage them into learning about ways to use the social network positively.

I hope that I will be able to help students constantly be in contact with people through positive social networks.  A few years ago I came across this article and, though it is outdated, I have been unable to find anything like it for more current times.  This article shows different social networks for the year 2007.  Though much has changed, it shows positive and negative connotation associated with these networks.  This is useful information because if a teacher plans on encouraging his/her students to use these networks, they should know the pros and cons.  My major question, however, is how do you continue to keep up, as a teacher, with the growing problems in the social network?

What Do I Do Next?

Admit it.  You've procrastinated.  We've all done it.  The problem is that with the internet, students now have options.  The internet has come up with a whole new brand of cheating.  Students can now copy and paste entire essays and claim them as their own.  However, is it worth it to plagiarize.  Check out the essay at this website.  Lets assume that the teacher doesn't automatically zing you as a cheater and a plagiarist.  The teacher sits down and actually grades this...well, lets call it an essay.  There is no works cited page, poor sentence structure, lack of pertinent information, and no flow to the essay.  Honestly, if I were grading this paper I would give it a D+ tops.  True students take pride in what they write.  More importantly, they are eager for a chance to learn.  Clearly plagiarism is not the answer.  Now we have to continue to encourage the next generation to take credit for their own work, and give others credit for theirs.

Google Tracking

I got this really cool assignment to keep track of everything I google'd for a week.  Admittedly, my mom's surgery has completely destroyed all my computer time, so this last week I didn't google anything.  However, previous I have google'd addresses, news topics, celebrity rumors, definitions, subjects for classes, sales for clothes, sales for food, halloween costumes, etc etc.  It's amazing to think about the role Google has in our life! I am going to keep special track of everything I google for this next week, and I'd like to implore you to do the same.

UPDATE!!!
I recently had the time to track my google searches for a week.  For privacy reasons, certain phrases have been excluded, but below are my google searches.
Social Network
Kiss and Makeup
Kiss and Makeup Trunk Show
Political Cartoons
Political Cartoons in Education
Bathroom Board
Black Friday Sales
Address
Address
Address
Laptop Reviews
Toshiba Reviews
Consumer Reports
Name
BWI Airport
Southwest
Renee Zellwigger

Convergence

How AMAZING is technology?  I love it! Recently a video came into my hands that shows the impact of technology in our lives.  Who would have ever thought there were 2 million television in bathrooms, or that our cell phones will soon be the major way to connect to the internet?  I would like to encourage you to watch the video on your own, but suffice it to say, this video shows the true dramatic changes we as Americans have made with technology.  Some examples include changing from print to computers, using cell phones, televisions, and the internet network.

In the past I may have come off as anti-technology, but I'm not.  I actually believe technology could be one of the best things for the human race.  This article reflects my views fairly accurately.  Technology can be great for visualization and understanding and making connections in education.  However, there can be overdraw too, and we have to find that delicate balance that helps work with the convergence of technology in the classroom.

Technology is not just in the classroom, but also in our lives, making life easier and helping to not waste time.  However, technology is not all great and all problem fixing.  This next video is done by CBS and talks about some of the less positive parts of technology.  If you don't watch all of it, fast forward to 3.22 and 3.30.  This looks at technology problems in the workplace and with children.  Employers are having problems with misuse of technology in the workplace and children are having more problems with connecting to people.

Now I'm not saying kill technology, lets go back to the spear and fire pits.  All I'm saying is everything is fine as long as its in moderation.  If anything is done in excess, its bad.  Technology can be great, but we have to use it in smaller amounts.  We also have to begin to urge our children and next generation to get a little more away from technology.  Furthermore, factoring in the convergence of technology, we have to look at the ethical problems we are now faced with.  For instance, is it really good for kids to only be able to do math on a calculator for instance?  On one hand, doing the math on a calculator gets it done, most of the time very efficiently.  However, is math a skill that should be memorized for the sake of memorization?

Technology in My Life

I CANNOT live without technology.  Everyday I use it and here are some of my FAVORITE pieces.

My trusty cell phone.  All it does is make calls and text people, but that's all I need it to do.

The nook is my favorite new toy.  I read all the time, so this not only saves me money in the long run, it also saves me shelf space.

I just got a new camera, but here's a picture of my old one.  I wouldn't say I'm a photographer, but I love documenting major events in my, and my family's, life.

This is my GPS.  Without it, I would be lost, quite literally.  I use it to get everywhere.

Who can live without their computer? Mine is a laptop named Snuffles.  He's been my constant companion for 4 years and I couldn't live a day without using him.