Blog Post #4

DON'T TEACH YOUR KIDS THIS STUFF. PLEASE?


I really laughed out loud at this post. This put into mind how technology was treated years ago; radio and tv were immoral and would lead to our downfall, heavy metal and rap was music straight from the devil and now the internet is going to corrupt or dumb down our children. Do we ever learn from our mistakes? There are risks in everything that we do. Wouldn’t we rather take a risk that our students will learn something new and innovative or do we want to hold them back? Dr. McLeod has made the choice to let his students learn and grow, let us make the same choice! Dr. McLeod is an accomplished educator who is a professor at Iowa State University. Reading his bio is mind boggling! He has his hands in so many projects and he has received numerous awards for his work. You know what they say, when there is smoke there is fire...Dr. McLeod is definitely one to watch!


THE iSCHOOL INITIATIVE


A young student, Travis, wants to create an iSchool using the iTouch. The idea is save schools money and help them to go green. No books, no paper, no pens or pencils. It would allow communication between the teacher, students, AND the parents. I LOVE this idea! While I am attached to traditional books and sometimes prefer to write things out before I type them (like poetry or essays), going paperless and bookless (for the most part) make soooo much sense (and will save a lot of cents)! Our government is constantly telling us that there is not enough money for education. This is a very straight forward solution. I know that it would probably take some time to get all the kinks worked out but usually something worth having takes a little work. I really liked the idea of student, teacher and parent accountability. Dr. Strange is always talking about the intellectual trail that we are leaving and the iSchool would enable us to have access to that trail for each and every student. I would love to see the iSchool initiative brought here!


THE LOST GENERATION


To my recollection, I have never seen a read and reverse style poem like this one, and it is very powerful. It is also refreshing to see someone of the younger generation acknowlege some of the negative trends in society while empowering that generation with the ability to reverse those things.

 ERIC WHITACRE'S VIRTUAL CHOIR

This video was mindblowing. I have sung in many choirs who didn't sound like that and we were standing right next to eachother. Mr. Whitacre is a visionary...I would have NEVER thought something like this was possible. The music was so ethereal and transcendant it made it hard for me to grasp how this was all done. And to think this all began by one young girl sending a video of herself singing to one of Mr. Whitacre's pieces. Technology is amazing. I am intrigued by the virtual choir and how it is all put together. If anyone is interested in participating in the next virtual choir, please visit his website http://ericwhitacre.com/.

TEACHING IN THE 21st CENTURY

What does it mean to teach? To my shame, most of the answers that I came up with immediately, fell into the category of teaching theories and information, etc. My first thought SHOULD have been to teach critical thinking. I think that the video is largely correct in that the teacher's job is obsolete. If our only job is to transfer information, then there is no need for a teacher. Without equiping students with these skills, we fail. Like the video says, in order to engage the students, we have to make the information we give them and the tools we use relevant. That means we have to integrate technology into our classrooms.