Blog Post 4

1) Dr. Mcleod's post Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please? was very interesting. From the way it was outlined to the way it was worded was just different. But it was a good different. He was asking parents not to teach their children about technology and to get rid of it altogether. At the end he told them that he was going to be teaching his kids about technology and how to use it and to check with him in the future to see who is better off. I agreed with him because if we do not teach our young people how to use technology then they are more than likely going to have a rough future ahead of them.
Dr. Mcleod is an Associate Professor at Iowa State University. He is also the director of CASTLE, which stands for Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education. CASTLE is the nation's only academic center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators. Dr.Mcleod is a brilliant mind in the world of technology and I would love to meet him one day.

2) The iSchool Initiative is a great idea, but I am not sure it is feasible. This student from a public high school in Georgia is trying to find a way to help out his school system since they are having budget problems. I believe we all can relate to this topic because of the budget issues our own public school system is having. His argument is that it would be cheaper and more environmentally friendly by reducing the carbon footprint.
I honestly don't see this happening. It really is a great idea but I believe there would be to many complications in this process. You wouldn't any accountability for the devices once they left the school premises. They would more than likely get broken or lost pretty regularly which means there would have to be two or three replacements per student. If it was two to three replacements per student then the cost would be the same as it normally is. There are just to many issues or kinks that would have to be worked out before any of this would happen. It is something that I would definitely support and like to see at least attempted in the future.

3) The You Can't Be My Teacher video was pretty interesting. It was a video starring a young boy asking if the watcher (me) if I was going to be his teacher. He asked several different questions such as: do you know how to use the internet?, have you ever been on facebook?, and have you ever been on twitter? This young boy has a great perspective on how the world will soon be as he grows older.
He understands that if you do not understand how to use the internet or a computer then you obviously can't teach him how to use it. If you can't teach him how to use it, then how can we expect him to prosper in the world that is advancing in technology so fast. I understand and agree that in order to make it in the near future we are going to have to be technology savvy. Technology is something that is going to start being incorporated in all classrooms across the world and if are teachers are not prepared then our students are destined for turmoil.

4) Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir was neat. The way that he had all of those people synced together and singing altogether without any lag was truly amazing. Only in todays society are we able to do things like this. It all stems back to knowing how to use the technology that surrounds us or having someone there to teach us how to use it.
I for one have no idea what is going on with a computer when compared to some of these people. It completely blows my mind on the things that we are able to do now with the use of technology. You can group up a hundred people or so and make it seem like they are all in the same room. Hopefully one day I will be able to do some of these things on my own without step-by-step instructions.

5) Teaching in the 21st Century was an interesting video made by Kevin Roberts. In the video it presented many different questions that students and teachers face today. All are relevant questions because the teacher is not the center of learning anymore because of technology.
The phrase to teach in the 21st century means to use all of the resources available to help students reach their goals. The resources I am referring to is the internet and new hand held devices such as the iPhone. This new technology gives the students access to most of the worlds information with just a few keystrokes and a click of a mouse. Teachers can benefit from the internet and these devices as long as the know how to use them and think outside the box.