Response to Randy Pausch's Last Lecture

Randy Pausch was a great speaker, teacher, and such a brilliant man. After watching this video and knowing that he has died makes me look at my own life. He accomplished so much and even when he had 2 months to live he wasn't out traveling the world, he was teaching. His teaching methods were so hands on and friendly. He was the kind of teacher that everyone loved because he was excited about the subject he was teaching and it showed. He didn't teaching using the conventional methods, but he was innovative and made his own curriculum. I like how he talked about never giving up. He was saying that you should never give up on your dream and he spoke so eloquently I felt that I could do anything. People could listen to him and think he was just lucky. like who in real life is an imagineer?? Randy himself could have taken the first no as the answer, but he kept pursuing and it happened. Same with the zero gravity flight. Everyone told he that he couldn't go, but he didn't take no for an answer. He got a press pass and politely explanined that he was going on that plane, and it would benifit them both. Randy also says that there is a right way and a wrong way of saying the same thing. My mom and Randy are a lot alike. They both are very driven and graceful, but they get what they want. My mom has always taught me to say things in the nicest possible way. His boss gave him a flat-out no, when asked about the imagineer job. The other guy said that it sounded great and he was excited to see one of his best teachers excited about it, but he needed more information. Neither of them say yes, but the first man was just rude. Randy had a lot of wisdom to pass on and I think that he did a good job of it. He encourages group enteraction and learning rather than just lecturing. Teaching should be a process and a journey, and Randy acknolowges that. I am soooo jealous that he got to be an imagineer!!!! I have a few friends that work for Disney and they love it!!!!! I hope to oneday be a part of something like that!!! Thank you Randy for your inspiration and motivation! It seems like you lived an amazing life!

Response to "Is it okay to be a technically illiterate teacher" by Karl Fisch

"Headteachers and Principals who have staff who are technologically-illiterate should be held to account."


This blog was amazing. Karl Fisch is so right about everything he said. People, especially in education, should be ashamed if they are technology illiterate. That to me is the same as saying, "I am so set in my ways and stubborn, I have every opportunity at hand but I will just do things how I have always done them". Or, "I'm too lazy, I don't want to work for anything." I agree with the quote above from Mr. Fisch. Things won't change unless the people in authority say something must be done. I don't understand why some people are proud of their computer illiteracy. I also don't understand why computer classes aren't available at every school, but reading and math sure are. Technology is our future so if children don't have access to it does this mean they have no future?

Response to "It's not about technology" by Kelly Hines

Mrs. Hines touched on some great points in her blog. She seems to really be knowledgeable about not only teaching, but learning too. She listed 4 facts that can help teachers to be successful in the ever evolving teaching field:
1. Teachers must be learners. She was saying that at the beginning every teacher has to pass the same tests and take the same classes, but decades down the road all of their experiences will be different. Teachers continue to evolve and learn what methods are most effective and they learn what doesn't work as well. Teachers must be learners to be effective, period. They must learn what new tools are available and learn how to use them. They have to keep up with what interests their students also.
2. Learning and Teaching are not the same thing. She was saying that if no learning is accomplished then no teaching has been done either. Teachers need not put students in a box and only expect certain things from them. Their ability to learn is limitless as long as they have a teacher that is willing to do some work.
3. Technology is useless without good teaching. She said that no matter how many thousands of dollars a school may spend on technology, if a teacher doesn't use it correctly or at all, then it's worthless. There are sooo many free tools a teacher can use in the classroom today, if their budget is limited. It's really up to the teacher to be creative and up to date on all of the technology available to them.
4. Be a 21st Century Teacher without the technology. This means that as long as a teacher adapts his/her teaching to the students then they will be relevant. A teacher needs to be creative and receptive. Teachers can be modern without all of the modern conveniences. "Those teachers who know how to foster communication and collaboration within their classrooms and school buildings are equipping their students with the abilities to apply these core skills to more areas in their own lives."

Response to- Michael Wesh: A Vision of Students Today

This movie seemed really homemade and it was hard to follow. I liked the concept of it and it caught my eye from the beginning, but it was the camera man didn't do a good job. The camera was never held straight or long enough to read some of the statistics. I like the message of the movie, just not how the footage was shot. Some of the words were written too small and others I just couldn't read. I liked how there were a lot of people involved in this movie. I think the music added a nice touch to it.
My college experience so far has been a little bit of everything. I have lived in dorms for a year, while I went to University of Mobile. Now I live alone and go to South Alabama. At UM all of my teachers knew my name and it was like a family. Everyone knew each other. At USA its totally different. I know one or two people in my classes, the teachers in my major know my name, but for the prerequisites there were like 200 people in my classes. I agree that I have spend hundreds of dollars on textbooks and never opened them. I think this video is great overall, they just need to work on the camera work.

My Presentation

Response to Next Generation Learning

This video was so cool! I have never even seen that interactive whiteboard! I loved how even if students couldn't afford a laptop of their own, they could rent one from the school! I also liked that even when the kids were away on a field-trip the teacher kept the parents up to date on the kids via a blog. I know that if i was a parent I would love to see pictures of my child on the field-trip that very night! I liked how the kids could play the Wii and let off some steam between classes. I know I get fidgety during class and I'm 20! This video made a lot of great points and was very well-made. I am glad that they gave every child an equal opportunity, no matter their religion, social status, or even how shy they were. They make learning accessible to everyone! Go UK!

Reviewing Podcast Resources

I listened to the sound-clip from the NPR Ideastream first. I liked how short it was. I sounded really professional, probably because it was. I think they should have showed the picture that they were discussing on the website so that it could be viewed while listening to the commentary on it.
Second I listened to is the Eagle Nest Radio & Class Blog (3rd Grade Podcasts). I loved this podcast!! It is so well done! I liked the background music and the little kids voices! This just shows me that anyone is capable of making a good podcast. I liked how there was a picture of the class above the sound bite. The children sound like they like what they are talking about and put a lot of emphasis into their words. I like how it was ordered kind of like the news! I love this podcast! When I am a teacher I want to have a podcast with my class!

Response to last semester's videocast

I thought the opening credits looked nice. There was music in the background and it sounded clear. When the podcast started and the people introduced themselves, they didn't look at the camera. They also didn't speak very loud. I think they should have been seated at a smaller table so that the camera could zoom in a bit more. I think the people in the video cast make it more boring than it should be. I think Dr. Strange does a good job as the mediator. I like how clear the camera is and the microphone is good too, its just too far away for some of the people to be heard as well as the others. I don't like how the students look like they are reading from a script. They may not have been, but it appeared that way. In my podcast, if I do a videocast, I will not use a script, maybe just rehearse before we film. Are we going to be given a topic for our podcasts? If not, I want to do something interesting! (no offense) I thought that the lady named Kitty was a really good speaker. She had good comments to add to the discussion and she used her hands to talk. I don't like how long this video was. It was a little redundant and it took my computer like 15 minutes to load.

Picture Modifiers