Blog Post 5

Don't teach your kids this stuff. Please?
I really enjoyed reading Dr. McLeod's blog post. Although There are many points I strongly agree with him on, there are also points to disagree with as well. I understand his sarcasm and humor being expressed while stating "Don't teach your kids to read and write online." I feel that it is very important for our children to be able to read and write using both pen and paper and online tools. I think both share equal importance. By using the web to learn to read there many fun learning tools which might attract a child's interest in a different light. I feel that books and social networking/ online tools both have evils and bad things, the difference is that it is much easier for a child to access these evils through the internet verses a book. With this being said we must stress, inform, and teach the importance of safety precautions that we must take while exploring and using the internet. Scott McLeod is an associate professor of Educational Leadership at the University of Kentucky. He is the founder of CASTLE which stands for The Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education. He is a man who is a leader in the technological world that we live in today and expresses his interests in doing his work focusing on children K-12.

The iSchool Initiative
Travis Allen is a brilliant young man. His school is experiencing many problems, our public education system needs help and he feels that he may have a solution to fix this problem. By creating the iSchool, the future of American Education parents, teachers, and schools will save money. By doing away with all textbooks, paper, copy machines in a school and using one handheld device to access all information needed. The iTouch provides Apps for all of the tools we use in the classroom now such as, formulas, calculators, graphing calculators, all textbook information the list goes on and on. Travis is saying that our iPhones, iTouch, and iPads provide the same information as textbooks and it is all combined into one small handheld device. This device allows and provides communication with teachers, students, and parents.

This idea of schooling can provide instant access for teachers to their class anywhere at anytime they personally want. There are ways to make the device in which a child uses to do their school work on to limit and personalize website suitable for only educational purposes. After watching this video of course it is an awesome idea which will save everyone a great amount of money, but realistically from personal experience of having technical problems with my computer it is a fact that being able to use textbooks/ pen and paper are always great backup plans. Also, I think it may enable a child to express feelings and emotions by always being on a cell phone or internet device. Having children interact with each other physically and verbally in a classroom environment I feel creates basic social skills that every child should possess. By only using a handheld device it could limit children to only interact with a manmade device verses a human just like them. Seeing Travis as a 17 year old student then hearing him at age 20 share his successes and progress to the iSchool was inspiring. I think he is a positive role model in the eyes of creating a dream and following it.

Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir
In the beginning I was a bit confused, then it all started to make sense. I thought it was amazing how everyone was viewed from home or where ever they personally chose to be and all doing the same task. This video showed that we can stay in sync with each other visually and orally from different locations by using technology. I found it very inspiring and opened my mind to another level of creating and incorporating technology.

Teaching in the 21st Century
I think Kevin Roberts feels that teaching in the 21st century should be more than the basics. That it should be taken to another level and bring in new tools. The reality of it all is that present day and our future we are available to information everywhere. We should teach our youth how to use different sources to learn and gather information instead of just using textbooks. We naturally as adults turn to the internet to seek answers or advice. We should find out and teach our youth the proper way to research information and use technology in more ways other than just asking for tips, answers, or seeking advice. I personally agree with these positions, I think incorporating technology into learning is very important. I also feel that we must remember and use the basic tools as well.