Sunday, February 6, 2011

Blog Assignment 4

Don't Teach Your Kids This Stuff. Please? By Scott McLeod

I really enjoyed reading this article. I thought it was well said and put together. They layout of the post really added to his point. In my opinion, I think getting children involved with technology to soon can become an issue. We need to let them enjoy their childhood. They only get it once.
Scott McLeod, J.D., Ph.D., is widely recognized as one of the nation’s leading academic experts on K-12 school technology leadership issues. Dr. McLeod is an Associate Professor in the Educational Administration program at Iowa State University. He also is the Director of the UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education (CASTLE), the nation’s only academic center dedicated to the technology needs of school administrators. Dr. McLeod blogs regularly about technology leadership issues at Dangerously Irrelevant and occasionally at The Huffington Post. He is the creator of Leader Talk, the nation’s first group blog written by school leaders for school leaders. Dr. McLeod also was a co-creator of the wildly popular video, Did You Know? (Shift Happens).
The information about Dr. McLeod was found here.


The iSchool Initiative
I see his point. That it could save money blah, blah. Technology has many positive and negative qualities, however, with technology; you don't get the student-teacher connection. Students will not get that one on one experience. Technology is already taken away the interactions with people. Technology is teaching people how not to communicate one on one. They are able to type something, send it and possibly never have to meet that person. It's taking away life in my opinion. Now with the click of a button, people can do the majority of their errands, online. Video games are taking away going bowling, tennis and many other sports. So many people have problems with video games=violence, and that's what they blame for all of these students who go on a shooting spree, isn't converting school and everything else to technology the same as having no life?

The Lost Generation

I think this video was well put together. If you focus on this when its being read backwards, I think these words are very true.

Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir

I thought this was very cool to watch. I think it is interesting that technology can allow something like this to happen. The song is very pretty. I had never heard of it before now. I think it’s so amazing that all of these people had recorded the song and then it was able to be put together to make it seem like it was recorded all at once.


Teaching in the 21st Century

My reaction to the video is true. Our children are able to go on the internet and navigate around to find out the answers to anything. I'm not really sure what "To Teach" in the 21st century means to me. I feel like it means that same thing it has meant throughout time. We just have an easier and quicker way of getting answers. We can find out anything within seconds. We also have different ways to get our material across to students.

my collage

2 comments:

  1. " I think getting children involved with technology to soon can become an issue." So how does this fit with McLeod's overall argument. You seem to be missing a lot of what he said.

    The description of Mr. McLeod reads like it was copied from some place. If it was it needs to be in quotation marks and the source cited. If not, you should cite the source anyway.

    "... isn't converting school and everything else to technology the same as having no life?" Really? I have many, and I do mean many, good friends that I have never met in person but know quite well through Twitter and Skype. Which would be better - knowing them like I do or not knowing them at all? I'll take the former any day. And it ALL because of technology!

    "I think it is so cool that technology can allow something like this to happen." So technology used like this is "cool"? But these people have never met each other. How can you reconcile that with your strident comments about technology resulting in "no life"? Something doesn't mesh here at all!

    "My reaction to the video is true." What do you mean by this? Is it a product of being taught in school that answers are either True of False or can be found in a lit of five responses?

    "I feel like it [to teach] means that same thing it has meant throughout time." Amazing. So you reject the entire argument of the author of this presentation? Truly amazing!

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  2. I took his article as don't have your children do everything on the computer, that is why I said, "I think getting children involved with technology to soon can become an issue." He is right, pen and paper aren't going anywhere. I took that as, "let your children be children."

    I do apologize for not citing the information. I'm not sure why I didn't cite it after I wrote my response but the website is now available.

    In my opinion or reaction to this article and every other one we read or video we watch, I would rather only have people in my life that I talk to. I am not the type of person that wants to know someone just through the internet.

    I have only been in this class for one month today, and I will say that when I came into this class, the idea of technology in a classroom was absurd to me. Now I see the many benefits it has.

    Yes, I think the virtual choir is "cool." I think its amazing that people from all over can do something like this because of technology.

    When I say,"I feel like it [to teach] means that same thing it has meant throughout time," I believe that it means, what it says, to teach. To help anyone understand subjects, rather big or small. It doesn't have to be science or math, but cooking, sewing, anything. I also believe that even with all of this technology, teaching will be the same from when my grandparents were in grade school until the end of time.

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