1. Did You Know?
This first video was a complete eyeopener, I had no clue so many people were using all these different technologies. I was completely unaware of the statistics where so many non US people were ahead in the learning curve. Those people are incredible and to think how much faster they are at learning things really makes me wonder why we the United States are so far behind. With that being said, you would think since over 90% of our population has smart phones and all these amazing technologies that we would be the leading country in learning.
The question of if I am ready to teach the children to be prepared for the technologies that haven't even been invented yet has a simple answer, no. I am in no way ready, I honestly don't even know what I am doing half the time when using things of this time frame, let alone what we will have in 2025! I am terrified, but I guess that is why I am still learning now and maybe I will be ready when that time comes.
2.Mr. Winkle Wakes
What a strange video! It was creative and cute, but slightly uninteresting. I found myself thinking of other things and not really paying it much attention. I did however, like the initial message behind the video. The fact that things really don't change in the classroom is so true and such a bore. A classroom should be fun and entertaining, lectures are tiring and only fun for "hundred year" old men. Technological advances really could make for a more interesting class period.
3.Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity
In this video Ken Robinson says that creativity is as important as literacy and should be treated as such. He says children aren't afraid to be wrong and make mistakes but we teach them to be afraid to make mistakes. This to me is so true, and such a horrible act that we participate in, this shouldn't be our way of thinking because the best way to learn the right thing, is to make the mistake in the first place. We have to be able to learn and grow from our mistakes. Also is states that as we grow, we are growing out of creativity which is completely true, these days things with even the slightest bit of fun (art, music, ect.) is being pushed out of the school system to make more room for the things that are not exactly a child's favorite (math, history, and so on).
Robinson tells us that intelligence is diverse, dynamic and distinct, and with the schools trying to remove the arts as children get older they could very easily lose their sense of creativity. Removing the arts in schools is a horrible thing and I sincerely hope that this changes soon, or that people realize the loss of such a wonderful program.
4.Pintrest
Honestly, I have been a Pintrest girl it feels like since the day it was created, I love it and always find the neatest and most fun crafts to do when I get on the website. I have seen things from, how to decorate my class to fit the seasons, to the coolest science projects that I never did when I was younger. I love Pintrest and there is not a single thing that could be said to tell me I couldn't use it in a classroom!
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Blog Post #1 (due 1/20)
About Me
Hello world, My name is Carmen Whitley Byrd, but I usually just go by Whitley. I have lived in Mobile, Alabama my entire 21 years of life and, I honestly do not see myself going anywhere else anytime soon. I live at home with my mom, dad, and our dog Jake and it's pretty much always a mad house. When I was in high school it was an easy decision to choose to go to South. The school is right down the road from my house, why spend more money to go far away and not go to a school that is well known for their education studies program.
Education was not exactly my first career choice, I wanted to be a lawyer (that didn't last long). Then I thought I wanted to be a doctor, then I remembered I don't do well with blood. Junior year of high school I started my fabulous job at St. Luke's Episcopal School as an after school care teacher and I was hooked! I love those kids with my whole heart and I knew from that moment on that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so here I am in EDM 310, slightly terrified and excited all at the same time. This year is going to be incredible and I can not wait until I am finally a teacher in my very own classroom!
My Classroom
Teaching can be scary and not effective if you are an unprepared teacher, especially in the field I am getting ready to venture into. I have be studying and getting ready to work with the age groups of sixth through twelfth grade. These days this age group is seen as vicious and the kind that will wear you down. I am so ready to go into these rooms and try to prove those stereotypes wrong, I want kids to want to come to my classroom. I love hands on learning, and interactive ways to get involved and make sure all the kids are understanding the material, and having a hands on learning environment is the best way to do that.
Children today get a bad rap and are seen as having bad attitudes or are thought to not be interested in what their teachers have to say. I feel like that is unfair and that those kids are only seen that way because the teachers have simply given up, and don't even expect the children to show up to class. I want to change that, I want the children to want to be in the classroom and I want them to strive to be the best. I think if the teachers had more of an activity filled lesson plan those kids would flock to the classrooms. I think the kids want a classroom that seems more like they are hanging out with their friends, and if games and hands on activities were added to teacher's curriculum the kids would just see it like they were having fun instead of being force fed information that they will honestly just forget a few hours later.
Technology is advancing and becoming more and more useful in the classroom, before it was just a chalkboard and chalk, now we have things like smart boards and the kids all have smart phones and tablets, these are all useful tools in the classroom. I will be teaching history, and yes that is probably one of the more "boring" subjects we have all sat through at one point in time, but with all these technological advances there are tons of ways to turn the classroom into a sort of "knowledge playground".
I once had a teacher who for an entire week turned our history class into a 70's style game show. It is things like that, that make learning enjoyable and memorable. I love the idea of making game shows, or board games, or even historical puzzles. Making slide shows on the smart boards, even making their very own movies portraying historical moments in time are all great examples of things I would love to do in my classroom so that the kids are having fun and want to come everyday and learn something that they didn't know the day before. Teaching the high school/middle school age is going to be a challenge but I can not wait to put all my ideas into affect and see the out come!
Randy Pausch Video
I have never, seen or heard public speaker Mr. Pausch before, but this small bit of video that I watched was quite informative, I learned that failing to plan is just planning to fail and that time management is crucial in life. I learned that the older and wiser I become the more experience I will gain and that will help me with judgment issues later in life. I also learned that when eating frogs, never start with the small one, or go for the bigger problems first when working out your life issues.
Hello world, My name is Carmen Whitley Byrd, but I usually just go by Whitley. I have lived in Mobile, Alabama my entire 21 years of life and, I honestly do not see myself going anywhere else anytime soon. I live at home with my mom, dad, and our dog Jake and it's pretty much always a mad house. When I was in high school it was an easy decision to choose to go to South. The school is right down the road from my house, why spend more money to go far away and not go to a school that is well known for their education studies program.
Education was not exactly my first career choice, I wanted to be a lawyer (that didn't last long). Then I thought I wanted to be a doctor, then I remembered I don't do well with blood. Junior year of high school I started my fabulous job at St. Luke's Episcopal School as an after school care teacher and I was hooked! I love those kids with my whole heart and I knew from that moment on that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so here I am in EDM 310, slightly terrified and excited all at the same time. This year is going to be incredible and I can not wait until I am finally a teacher in my very own classroom!
My Classroom
Teaching can be scary and not effective if you are an unprepared teacher, especially in the field I am getting ready to venture into. I have be studying and getting ready to work with the age groups of sixth through twelfth grade. These days this age group is seen as vicious and the kind that will wear you down. I am so ready to go into these rooms and try to prove those stereotypes wrong, I want kids to want to come to my classroom. I love hands on learning, and interactive ways to get involved and make sure all the kids are understanding the material, and having a hands on learning environment is the best way to do that.
Children today get a bad rap and are seen as having bad attitudes or are thought to not be interested in what their teachers have to say. I feel like that is unfair and that those kids are only seen that way because the teachers have simply given up, and don't even expect the children to show up to class. I want to change that, I want the children to want to be in the classroom and I want them to strive to be the best. I think if the teachers had more of an activity filled lesson plan those kids would flock to the classrooms. I think the kids want a classroom that seems more like they are hanging out with their friends, and if games and hands on activities were added to teacher's curriculum the kids would just see it like they were having fun instead of being force fed information that they will honestly just forget a few hours later.
Technology is advancing and becoming more and more useful in the classroom, before it was just a chalkboard and chalk, now we have things like smart boards and the kids all have smart phones and tablets, these are all useful tools in the classroom. I will be teaching history, and yes that is probably one of the more "boring" subjects we have all sat through at one point in time, but with all these technological advances there are tons of ways to turn the classroom into a sort of "knowledge playground".
I once had a teacher who for an entire week turned our history class into a 70's style game show. It is things like that, that make learning enjoyable and memorable. I love the idea of making game shows, or board games, or even historical puzzles. Making slide shows on the smart boards, even making their very own movies portraying historical moments in time are all great examples of things I would love to do in my classroom so that the kids are having fun and want to come everyday and learn something that they didn't know the day before. Teaching the high school/middle school age is going to be a challenge but I can not wait to put all my ideas into affect and see the out come!
Randy Pausch Video
I have never, seen or heard public speaker Mr. Pausch before, but this small bit of video that I watched was quite informative, I learned that failing to plan is just planning to fail and that time management is crucial in life. I learned that the older and wiser I become the more experience I will gain and that will help me with judgment issues later in life. I also learned that when eating frogs, never start with the small one, or go for the bigger problems first when working out your life issues.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
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