a. Using google squared, one can find out all sorts of information about pretty much anything. As shown in Dr. Strange's youtube post, one can find the population of any given country.
b. Using wolframalpha, one can do the same as in google squared, but one may get different numbers. A person can use both of these sites and see if they get the same information; that would tell a person that the information was probably correct.
c & d: I am sad to say that I didn't know about google squared or worldramalpha before 20 minutes ago.
e. After re-reading my own comments to the "Did You Know" assignment, I still agree with everything that I said.
f. To be honest, the word "statistics" makes me nervous, normally. But after exploring and playing with these sites, I'm excited to find that I wasn't confused! It's a very useful tool to find out about things that are normally difficult to find information on.
"Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please?" by Scott McLeod was actually very funny. I gathered from the first line that he was being extremely sarcastic. America has just come to a point where technology is the way to go. There is no turning back. I liked when he said that basically the technology-literate children were going to be a step up than the ones who aren't technology-literate. I think his sarcasm is what draws people in, rather than just hearing someone go on and on about technology. Short, sweet, and to the point- I like it.
This high school student from Georgia is obviously a very intelligent young man. He is weighing the pros and cons of schools going all technology. By going "all technology" the schools would do everything using the ipod extravaganzas. He literally demonstrates how everything needed to be done in school can be done on an ipod.
The student explains that while the expenses needed for books, calculators, pencils, back packs, etc. can be very high, the cost of an ipod is only $150. He uses a venn diagram to demonstrate just exactly how these savings take place. The first thing I thought was that kids would be using the internet for other reasons other than school, but just as soon as I thought it- he explained how the websites would be supervised!
I think this is interesting, and we shall see if/when it happens.
"The Lost Generation"
At first, I was concerned that this was going to be a depressing video, but about half way through, it really turned around. I wish that our ENTIRE generation thought that we could change the way our paths are taking us. I don't think that my generation believes that we can change anything. I liked the technique because it caught my attention. It wasn't boring. It was short, but powerful. Nicely done!
Wow!!! First of all, I love how it sounds when people are singing and it sounds like there are instruments playing, but there aren't!! I got even more excited when it was ALL done over the internet. This guy went on the internet and pieced all this together; how cool is that! Very impressive and exciting!!
Mrs. Cofino has one of the most positive attitudes that I have seen while blogging. She is very interesting, and I enjoyed reading her posts. She had 7 core points in her post. They were: build relationships, be approachable, be available, be proactive, be positive, be appreciative, and build community. She wrote a paragraph on each of these topics, and did a wonderful job. She pointed out that relationships and attitude are important among co-workers. She thinks that being approachable to your fellow employees or to your boss helps the situation of working together and makes it easier. She talked about how being positive and appreciative of others' work made people respect and like you more. As a teacher all of these things will be important to me. I already feel that, as a preschool teacher, all of these things are important already,even though I am not someone's boss.
In the second blog post that I read, Mrs. Cofino was concerned about online classes. She expressed concern that in classes where everything was online that students weren't getting the one-on-one that he or she needed. I completely agree. I expressed to her that I felt that in my previous online classes, my teacher didn't know me at all, and we didn't have any one to one contact. I feel it is extremely important, especially in the lives of children and in Elementary Education.
Wow!! I liked this video! I totally feel that way. I feel that we pay all this money to have professors (not all, of course) not even care to know our names. I feel like we pay hundreds of dollars for school books, but yet in most of my classes, we're told to not even bring it to class. I realize that we, as students ,will read more facebook posts than we do actual books. This is sad, but I still understand exactly the point of the video.
This person has a very strong opinion, and I like that! The writer obviously cares strongly for this, and that says something. I have been told alot lately that technology is all we need in classrooms, and after reading this, I'm beginning to question that. Not that technology isn't needed, but that a teacher must have other tactics, too.
When the writer talks about how all teachers have a degree, every teacher achieved it differently. Some teachers graduated college 30 years ago when there wasn't alot of technology, where as some teachers graduated last year and technology has changed even since then (which we learned from our previous blog assignment).
So, where I see where technology is needed, I can also see where one must have the ability to teach before one can dive in and expect us all to use brilliant technology. I think it's necessary to still teach AND use technology all at the same time.
Latest Headlines
"Is It Okay to Be a Technology Illiterate Teacher? by Karl Fisch
Wow! This writer feels very strongly about technology, and I am excited about that! As I said in the paragraph before this, I realize that technology is important, but I know that not everyone does. I have caught myself saying "Yeah, don't worry, I was never really good at math, either." How embarrassing!!! I don't know that I would go so far as to say that a teacher who is technology illiterate should have his or her license removed. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that classes should be offered to him or her so that they have a change to better themselves. As I've said before, some teachers graduated with technology WAS NOT as important as it is in 2010.
Again, all I can say is WOW! I couldn't help but notice that the lowest number on the list was the number of ipads being sold. Anyway, this is just another way of showing us how FAST technology is forming and how quickly everyone is jumping on the band wagon. It amazes me that just 5 years ago, cell phones had no where near the amount of technology involved as they do now. I'm kind of scared to know what's the world is going to be like in 5 more years! We shall see....
