What I've Learned This Year by Mr. McClung

I responded to Mr. McClungs' blog, and it can be found on his blog at: http://attheteachersdesk.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-i-learned-this-year.html

I thought the blog posted by Mr. McClung was wonderful! It was so refreshing hearing good advice from a new teacher. Advice from teachers who have been teaching a while is awesome, but to hear from someone who has only been teaching for one year is great. I thought his blog was extremely eye-opening. I was reminded that it is all about the students. My lessons need to be geared to them. This may seem obvious, but I think it is too easy to get consumed by just making it a productive lesson, and not think about the students and how they will get it.

I truly want to make a different in the lives of my future students. I want them to know that I care about them. I loved that one of Mr. McClungs' students wrote and told him that they really felt like he cared about them. I want to be like that when I am a teacher. I want to be a great teacher and I want my students to know I truly care about each and every one of them!

My Thoughts on "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch

Wow! Incredible! Amazing! Inspiring!

Whenever this video first circulating YouTube I watched it, but that has been over a year. I made an impact on me then, and I was reminded of the things I learned while re-watching this video again. He is truly inspiring. Throughout my entire high school/college years (8 years so far), my life motto has been "Dream Big" I have written it on papers and hung it on my wall, I have even had it as a background on my computer at times. I love to be reminded to Dream Big and don't let it go.

Randy Pausch has truly such an incredible story. I cannot imagine being told that I have only a few months to live. He has left a wonderful legacy, and is still impacting many people even after his death. I would love to leave a wonderful legacy that encouraged people to follow their dreams and never let go of them. This video has really touched my heart both times that I have watched it. I actually cried when I wastched it this time. The most heart breaking part was at the very end when he said that the lecture was actually for his three kids. Wow! There are hardly words. This is an awesome lecture that everyone should definitely watch. Incredibly inspiring!

My thoughts on Karl Fisch: "Is It Ok to Be A Technologically Illiterate Teacher?"

I am completely amazed by Mr. Fisch! His post is great! I totally agree with him. The thing that amazed me the most was when Mr. Fisch said, 80% of the parents that came to conferences, at least 1 of them said they were never good at math. I am actually sitting at the beach right now visiting with a lady who does this to her children OFTEN! Last semester I tutored her daughter in math, and I cannot tell you how many times I heard her say that she has never been any good at math. This happened while I was sitting at her kitchen table with her daughter! No telling how many times she said it when I wasn't there! It's completely crazy!

I agree with Mr. Fisch, it's almost like people are proud of the fact that they are illiterate about some things. I learned so much reading this post. I definitely don't want to be an technologically illiterate teacher. I want to be the best teacher I can possibly be! Truly, his post was extremely eye opening! I cannot wait to share it with friends!

My Response to "It's Not about the Technology"

I thought Kelly Hines blog was extremely inciteful and true. I definitely agree with her. Technology is important, but it is not all about the technology. I loved her points about teaching, teachers most definitely have to be learners, learning and teachning are not the same thing, and technology is without a doubt useless without good teaching. These are all extremely good points that I completely agree with 100%!

I feel like many teachers today have technology in their classroom but do not use it properly, and they waste so much time figuring out how to work it when it doesn't work. Technology can be a wonderful thing if it is used properly by a good teacher, but definitly does not substitute for good teaching. Last semester I observed a teacher who had a SMARTboard in her classroom, and she used it really well. It was not distracting in the slighest bit. She took classes to teach her how to use it properly, and it was evident. She was not only a good teacher, but used technology in a way that benefited her students. I feel the biggest problem with technology is that it waste's too much time if teachers do not know how to use it properly. I completely agree with Kelly and her blog was absolutely wonderful!

My thought on "A Vision of Students Today"

I absolutely loved this video, It was right on! I went to LSU for four years before transferring here to South Alabama and I feel this video could be directly talking about LSU, it hits the nail on the head. It is exactly how things are there. A lot of students bring their computersand facebook throughout the class. Most of the classes are huge, too big for teachers to learn your name. You buy hundreds of dollars of books that you never use! It's completely insane!

When I watch this video and think of South Alabama, to me it does not apply. This school is small. My classes are very small compared to a major university such as LSU. No one brings computers to any of my classes, it's so weird to me. It really made me think of LSU, even though those things talked about in the video were not necessairly good, and miss it. I thought this video was great , and really shows what most major universities are like.

Reflections on 3 EDM 310 Podcasts

"Reflections on The Last Lecture of Randy Pausch": I did not like how the instructor did the introduction to the podcast, the students should have done that. I loved how the students introduced who they were and where they were from. It was evident they each picked parts of The Last Lecture to discuss. I really liked that. It was clear that the first girl that spoke read directly from her piece of paper, she was boring. If you read from your paper, I believe it is important to add personality into your paper. It did not sound like the other two people read from something, they just simply were having a conversation about what they thought. I really enjoyed it.

"Should All Teachers Be Technologically Literate?": Yet again I did not like how Dr. Strange did the introduction to the podcast, I think it would have been better had the students done it. Oh my goodness, someone coughed into the microphone and hurt my ears, that should have definitely been cut out of the podcast! I feel the students in this podcast is right about the fact that teachers should be as technologically literate as they possibly can. It is important to keep up with the times. Honestly, this podcast was quite boring to me.

"Useful Websites for Educators, BW0414W": The topic of this podcast is extremely boring. I am realizing how important the topic is for a making a podcast. Also, there is background noise that is extremely distracting during this podcast. These girls have nice voices to listen to, just the topic was boring to me. Listening to these podcasts have definitely helped me realize what I should and should not do for my podcast. They were extremely helpful!

My view on, "Eagles' Nest Radio Episode 1: Take a BITE out of Shark Facts!"

This was a fantastic podcast! I loved the music throughout the podcast, it really added to it! The children were absolutely adorable. I loved listening to them talk about shark facts. Anna Katherine had such an cute voice! She got really into it and was incredibly enjoyable to listen to. It was evident that the children were really prepared. They did great!

The children had a great topic, which is such an important part of a podcast. They were extremely enthusiastic about shark facts. I thought they did a great job making this podcast. There were not many distracting background noises, and they spoke into the microphone very clearly. It was refreshing to hear a podcast done by children as opposed to adults. I loved it!

Blog on Comments

I commented on three students from Dr. Strange's Wednesday night class.

Maggie Tarver's blog, "After listening to precious Eagle Nest Radio"
Jim Fawcett's blog, "Tinkerntt.com"
Lacey Musgrove's blog, "EDM 310 Podcast: "Should All Teachers Be Tech Literate?"

My response to "Changing the way we think"

While reading "Changing the way we think", I began thinking how technology and Google has changed the way I think. It is really a fascinating thought. When I was younger I use to be a cracker jack with math facts, now I need a calculator. I definitely believe technology is changing the way we think and act.

When I am looking up something on the Google search engine, I look for quick easy facts to read. If the thing I am looking for happens to be in a long paragraph, I either move on and look for something in bullet form, or skim the paragraph. When I was younger, I would have to go to the library, and read many books to find what I need. Today, I can find out almost anything I need to know with a few clicks of my mouse and a couple of minutes. It required a lot less thinking and searching. I definitely think technology is a good thing, but there are also downsides to it. I have to work to keep my brain sharp.