Jan 27

This week in teacher and technology we talked about the amount of time kids are exposed to media.  Kids are exposed to almost 11 hours of media each day.  I was shocked by this number.  11 hours every day, outrageous!  But the more I began to think about my day.  The amount of time I spend on my phone (texting, on Facebook, and making phone calls), on the computer, watching T.V., listening to music, and watching movies I realize that the amount of time spent multi-tasking between medias can definitely add up. 

The contradiction between the two teachers in the documentary was very surprising.  One didn’t use any technology in her classroom while in the other class every student had a computer.  My first reaction to the class with a computer for every student was I really wish I had gone to a school like that and I hope I can teach in a school that has that much technology available to the students.  What did surprise me was the teacher’s view on cheating.  Finding information from websites is useful for assignment, but to not cite it and to pass it off as your own work isn’t acceptable. 

Oh spark notes, loved this website as a student but now as a teacher I am a little unsure of it.  It is a useful site to get information and a stepping stone for students to understand one interpretation of a text. Spark notes should not be used as the primary source, as the student in the documentary did.  I did find his comment that no one reads books anymore they just spark note it made me both laugh and feel really depressed.

Looking forward to the guest speaker next week!

first post

What I have really enjoyed so far in the course was the ‘Really Bad PowerPoint’ presentations.  It was fun watching other people present their PowerPoint mistakes.  While watching, I realized I have done some of these mistakes in past PowerPoint presentations.  Every presentation was funny and the mistake they were exaggerating was clear.  I feel that now every time I see a PowerPoint during a lecture I am going to be very critical and remember those presentations. 

Some of the really simple technologies we used in class I have already seen during my practicum.  Some of the kids had created word clouds about themselves.  They put hobbies, interests, and personality traits.   They were excited about the word clouds and wanted to make more of them for other classes.  My CT showed me the rubistar website while I was at practicum.  Rubistar also allows you to make changes and develop your own rubric which will be a great help while we are teaching. 

During the past few classes we have watched several films.  The first film was called Opening Speech by Norman McLaren.  It was an interesting example of how we may fight technology but eventually embrace it.  We also watched a TV program about the Hudson Bay man and the American soldiers which was entertaining.  The last film we watched was Cosmic Zoom by Eva Szasz from the National Film Board of Canada website. 

I would like to also say that I am now convinced to get an iPhone as soon as possible.  Right now I have a blackberry and I’m constantly complaining about how slow it is.  After seeing how fast an iPhone is I am definitely converted.