Week 7

This is How We Dream Part One and Two

Part one talks about the fact that the children of today will probably never set foot in a library. It is quite possible that children will not know what a library is. The reason for this is that children are far more technologically advanced than previous generations. Rather than using black and white plain printed text, students are using audio and video from online documents. What kind of effect will this have on our future generations? Only time will tell, but it can be expected that in the future, libraries might almost be extinct. It is even possible to write reports without setting foot in a library because online sources have the exact same amount of valuable information.

In part two, Richard Miller says that we are missing the technology in schools that is needed to help our students thrive. Students have the amazing ability to have information at their fingertips that is updated immediately. Educational sites on the web are thriving these days, and it is extremely important to let our students have access to this information they provide. If we do not allow our students to have this information, we are holding them back both technologically and academically.

It is crazy to think that students might never know what a library is. Even the fact that they will possibly never set foot in a library is extreme to me. My mom took us to the library all the time when I was growing up. My sisters and I would spend hours looking at children’s books while my mom searched for her books. When I had a project for school, I went to the library to research it and had to use the old card catalog until the catalog was able to be accessed by computer. Of course now I hardly ever use the library, but I still believe it is important for children to have a hard copy of a book to look at. I guess you can say I’m a little old fashioned.

The Networked Student by Wendy Drexler

A networked student shares his information with others so that they can expand their knowledge together. When the student finds information that might be useful, he posts them to his social network or blog so that it is available to others, and they can form their own opinions. This student blogs so that other students all over the world can communicate with him. The networked student also makes usage of research sites such as iTunesU because it can contain valuable information.

Teachers can help these networked students by allowing them access to each other and leading them in this journey. Teachers will show these students how to build their networks and offer them guidance along the way to ensure that their networks are top-notch! Students will know that they can ask their teachers for help so that they will recognize the “good” information from the “bad” information along the way. Most importantly these teachers will help their students organize the information they find so that it is easily located and accessed by themselves and other students as well.

I believe Dr. Strange’s class is definitely preparing me for these networked students. Before this class, I never blogged or listened to podcasts, much less made a podcast. I have used many important tools so far such as audacity, iTunesU, and Google Docs that I did not know much about before this class. I feel that each day I am becoming better educated for my students of tomorrow, and this experience is invaluable to me as a teacher. I cannot wait to share my experience with my classes!

Toward A New Future of Whatever - Michael Wesch

Mr. Wesch begins his video by talking about media ecology. This is the belief that the media shapes most of our views and how we think. Whether we realize it or not, they do. The media practically brainwashes us every day, and most people do not even think twice about it. It is amazing how easily people can be fooled, yet it is happening each and every moment. I believe the media controls everything we know and learn by the news and tabloids.

The video speaks of different generations such as the American Idol generation and the MTV generation. He talks about the fact that people these days believe they are THE American Idol, and when they are rejected, they are completely baffled. The MTV generation is thought to be materialistic with short attention spans. Stereotypes—they are everywhere, and that is exactly what each generation is. Every generation has a label slapped on them, and I can definitely say that I hate being labeled as the “Me” generation because I am not a self-centered person.

The youtube video with the hands was awesome. This video could really send a message to the world, and it is a wonder that it is not played as a commercial on TV. Videos like this give me hope that maybe one day the world will change for the better rather than taking a sharp turn for the worst. It sometimes scares me to think of raising a child in the world we live in today knowing that it is probably only going to get worse.

My PLN

Before this semester, I never knew what on earth a personal learning network is. At first, I did not necessarily see the point in this, but now I am glad to say that I do! As a future teacher, I have many questions concerning different areas from discipline to conduct. It is important for me to have fellow professionals to relate to. PLNs are wonderful because I can associate with teachers of different experience levels. So far I have expanded my PLN to include my social network Facebook and a few teacher sites including: teachers.net, teacherspodcast.org, 4teachers.org, and pbs.org. Most of these sites are for teachers only, but pbs.org includes a section for parents to interact. I believe it is wonderful for parents to interact with their children’s teachers, and I am proud to have them as a part of my PLN.